Swindon and Wiltshire Careers Hub Virtual Employer Conference

Meeting employers and experiencing the world of work is a crucial part of careers education, helping to inspire and prepare young people for the fast-changing world of work. Research shows that a young person who has four or more meaningful encounters with an employer during their school years is 86% less likely to be unemployed or not in education or training.

While the value that employers bring when they support careers education in schools and colleges is well evidenced, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on this aspect of young peoples’ careers development with many planned employer encounters cancelled. We have seen some employer engagement programmes redesigned with a move towards virtual encounters, and, in a wider context, there have been changes in recruitment practices and new policy initiatives in areas such as apprenticeships and traineeships.

This virtual conference, hosted by the Swindon and Wiltshire Careers Hub, will provide an opportunity for employers across the area to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on young people’s career development, discuss opportunities and challenges around employment and recruitment, and identify how you can provide the support young people need using new models and technologies.

Event details:

• Date: Tuesday 15th September 2020
• Time: 11.00-13.00

Agenda:

• 11:00 Welcome and Introduction - Paddy Bradley, Chief Executive, Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership
• 11:10 The Impact of Covid-19 on young people’s career development - Nicola Hall, Careers and Enterprise Company
• 11:30 Changes to the policy landscape: apprenticeships, traineeships and the youth agenda - Rachael Johnson, Wiltshire Council and Stuart Shimmin-Vincent, Department for Work and Pensions
• 11.50 Panel Q&A session
• 12.00 Changes to employer recruitment practices - Simon Riechwald Strategic Lead for Talent, MyKindaFuture
• 12.15 Experiences of the work place in a virtual world - Jason Andrews, Virtual Work Experience Programme Coordinator, Jacobs
• 12.30 Working with SEND young people - Andrew McBride (Head of Global HR G&H) SEND Enterprise Adviser and Jenny Cornick, Managing Director, Talentino
• 12.45 Panel Q&A session
• 12:55 Closing remarks - Shona Taylor, Swindon and Wiltshire Careers Hub Lead

Once you have registered, we will send you a link for the conference which will be hosted via Microsoft Teams.

We hope you can join us for what will be an important and informative conference.