On Thursday 26th June, I volunteered to help Rise Up on the first day of their Building Aspirations programme in partnership with EY Foundation.
Who are Rise Up and EY Foundation? I hear you asking.
Rise Up is a UK youth unemployment charity that focuses on helping young people aged 16-30 find career related opportunities, by offering mentoring, workshops and helping to facilitate access to job opportunities.
Similarly, EY Foundation is an independent charity that also focuses on building those employability skills in young people from low income backgrounds. They bring young people and employers together to deliver training, paid work experience and mentoring, bringing a wealth of benefits to both the young people and the employers who choose to participate.
Why were they coming together?
EY Foundation were running a 10 day employability experience for young people, which included training, work experience and networking opportunities and for the last 2 days of the scheduled 10, Rise Up were arranged to run an employability bootcamp and deliver it to this cohort of young people.
2 organisations with a similar mission, coming together for a common cause.
The Big Day
I arrived in the morning to the office location, classically early, but this gave me a chance to get a layout of the land, understand which floor the offices were on and see if I could secure a room for a webinar I had to attend later that day.
Setting up then began, as I met with Kira from Rise Up and Sarah and Pauline from EY Foundation, we got to work organising the worksheets and tech which we would be using for the days workshop. The room had a beautiful view of Manchester and the weather was pretty nice for the most part, albeit a bit windy.
As the young people started filling in, we covered initial ground ‘expectations’, filled in some paperwork and discussed the running order of the day.
Then we were off…
Ikigai
I’m sure a lot of you are familiar with the concept of Ikigai. The idea that there is something out there for you which is born at the intersection of: What you love, What the world needs, What you can be paid for and What you are good at.
It is basically an exercise for the exploration of self, in relation to the world.
The cohort were first taken through a video explanation of what Ikigai is, and were then set off to have a good think about their own Ikigai, and write their thoughts on a worksheet.
Ikigai can be quite an abstract concept if you haven’t done it before, but I thought the young people handled it well, and it was a good introduction to the type of thinking they might need at varying points along their career journeys. As I was walking round providing insight and assistance, I noticed the difference in perspectives amongst the group; some more logical thinkers and some more abstract thinkers and it really opened up my own perspective to how this cohort were thinking about themselves and their own futures.
Building Confidence and Resilience: Understanding and Reframing Fear
We then moved on to the topic of FEARS and I thought this was a great one to cover. Fear is a universal emotion but knowing how to understand and reframe it is key. Not only to jobs, but to life.
The cohort were taken through some potential examples of how different fears might manifest at this early stage in their careers, but were then given examples of how to manage those fears with positive action or mentality.
There were some great examples of reframing fears in this section, such as:
- Every setback is a learning opportunity.
- Break big goals into manageable actions
- Skills can be learnt; confidence is built with action
Having this ability to understand and work through fears at an early age is key, because you will feel fear at any stage of your career but learning how to understand and manage that fear is key to moving forward.
It makes me think of that scene in Home Alone, where Kevin is talking to the old man in the church who he has been afraid of for most of the film up to this point. They’re talking about being afraid and Kevin says to the old man:
“No offence, but aren’t you a little old to be afraid’
The man replies:
“You can be a little old for a lot of things, you’re never too old to be afraid”
I’ve always loved that line. It acknowledges that there will always be things you’re afraid of all throughout life but what I would add to this is that in order to move forward, you need to understand your fear, why it’s there, what is driving it and if there is any way to break it down or reframe it in a positive way to form a new mentality, in order to move forward.
The fact that this cohort were being taken through this particular activity was so important and I hope they remember it in the future.
Overcoming Obstacles: What We Can Learn from Failure
The next part of the workshop focused on failures and the importance of reframing them as a part of the pathway to success.
Like a lot of people, I have experienced the biggest changes from failing. Be that knowing it’s time to reach out to someone for insight and help OR learning to be kinder towards myself OR knowing when it’s time to change direction in your career path. There will be moments when you will need to have a rethink of how it’s going and take steps towards a better course.
The activity to capture this was pretty interesting. On squares of paper the young people were told to match a failure in someone’s life, to the famous celebrity it happened to. I think this was such a great visual example to teach the lesson, as it showed that even people like Oprah, Steven Spielberg or Usain Bolt have all experienced failure but it didn’t stop them getting to where they are now… and that’s the lesson here. You will fall, but always remember to get back up and carry on.
Money Management Session
After lunch we jumped into a great session around budgeting and money management, led by two wonderful representatives from Santander.
The session was pitched perfectly at the age range, covering aspects of finances the young people may have already run into, but also teaching them about what they may have to consider 5-10 years down the line.
So often the topic of money and finances can get bogged down with terminology, but this session was quite interactive, getting the young people to think about budgets, what to consider when going on holiday or buying a car and where to reach out to for help.
I also learnt some things, and it was a great refresher for my own life.
The young people were very lucky to have that session so I hope they remember those key takeaways.
Panel of Professionals
At the end of the day I got the opportunity to sit on a panel with 3 other professionals and address common concerns young people have regarding the world of work and making their first steps into it.
We discussed topics that had come up throughout the day, such as barriers we had faced within employment, our fears and what we did to manage them and we also shone a light on our career paths, none of which were linear, highlighting how different everyone’s path can be.
Young people can be sold the idea that they need to get good grades, go to University and get a job, and yes, whilst that can work for some people (this was the path I took), others may not have the same opportunities or preferences. There are a lot of options these days – Apprenticeships, Degree Apprenticeships, Courses, Industry Placements, straight to a Job and more – and that’s what the people on the panel represented; the idea that you can do your career differently, take up an apprenticeship, decide to change your job or industry, even go overseas and learn more about yourself. Do what works for you because that way, you will be bringing your best self not only to your job, but to your life.
A key takeaway from the day I found, was that young people are really keen to learn more about developing themselves and learning what it takes to grow within the world of work. Throughout the sessions the cohort were engaging with the material, asking questions and reflecting amongst themselves about the ideas and methodologies presented to them. It was really refreshing to see, and that energy and engagement reminded me of why I love this type of work.
I would really love to have more of these opportunities in the future, so I guess I have to get out there and find them…
The Mind Library 
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