Ross and Rachel from the team were delighted to be asked to engage with and help out the current Princes Trust Team and were able to invite Linda from Al-Maktoum along with them.
Princes Trust are a national charity who work on a truly local level, encouraging young people from across Dundee to achieve the best of themselves. There are a number of different strands to Princes Trust, such as insight and support into jobs, supporting young people to start their own businesses and more. But in this instance we were able to support their confidence boosting 12 week personal development Team programme. This programme is open to young people (25 years old and under) who haven’t been able to take that next step or pursue their dreams because an issue with their confidence, or similar worries, is holding them back.
Over the 12 weeks the young people develop their soft skills, particularly team building, through a variety of challenges and projects, including work experience and a community engagement project.
Ross, Rachel and Linda went in at the last few weeks of the programme to undertake mock interviews. By having people from outside Princes Trust come in to the interview the young people, it creates a slightly more realistic scenario and has a bigger impact. Ross, Rachel and Linda interviewed the young people one on one for a fictional post related to their personal interests (i.e. working in retail, attending a college course, joining the armed forces,) asking a variety of the standard questions used in interviews. Before giving individual feedback and ways to build upon their performance.
Engagement like this is invaluable for young people as not only does it prepare them for the world of work, but it allows them to ask questions and gain insight into pathways, industries and careers they may not have known about.
Ross, Rachel and Linda all enjoyed taking part, particularly that warm, fuzzy feeling from knowing you’ve helped someone else. But professionals and companies can also use engagements such as this to encourage local young people to see opportunities in the pathways and vacancies they have available as well as dispel myths and stereotypes about their profession/industry/business, or build community engagement.
If you are interested in engaging with young people to help develop them for the workforce don’t hesitate to get in touch with the DYW Dundee & Angus team.
Princes Trust offer a range of programmes and opportunities across Scotland. Check the website for all the different ways they can engage with and support young people from secondary school age up to 30 years old.