BEACH – Brighton Employability Advice Career Hut

Employability advice for young people by young people.

Over the last year a small group of Year 10 students from three different schools in Brighton and Hove have come together to provide information and advice for young people who are looking for jobs in the city.

With unemployment rates at 2.51 million in September and 963,000 being between the ages of 16 and 24, the BEACH project is the best place for young people to go to in the current climate. They can find out useful information about job hunting, interview techniques and most importantly what employers are looking for, all of which has been put together through discussions with employers of Brighton and Hove.

The three schools, Blatchington Mill School, Varndean School and Cardinal Newman Catholic School gathered volunteers to work together with funding from Brighton and Hove Employability Engagement Group (EEG) to decide what would be the best way to provide young people with the right advice for finding a job.

The outcome of many meetings at the schools and businesses across the city is the colourful seaside themed website.

The website has various pages ranging from different employment sectors, starting and keeping a job to how to apply for a job. All can be accessed from the home page which is filled with colourful beach huts.

In the area of employment sectors, young people can watch video interviews with employers discussing what they would look for in an applicant.

The focus of the site is for young people to hear what employers want, and as the group said; when can young people hear about what employers want? Their answer was they could not, until now.

One student explained why they chose a website and how they chose the theme and layout: “We wanted it to be for young people, not too boring with too much writing.” The use of video and the different beach hut boxes give young people information effectively, quickly and in a more interesting way than pamphlets or emails would. As one person said it uses: ‘quick clicks’.

Hannah, 15, from Varndean has really enjoyed the experience and has learnt a lot from the project.  She said she feels much more positive about finding a job in the future and the best thing she learnt was: “that employers do keep an open mind with people.” Her favourite part of the project along with most of the other students was the delicious food they experienced when they visited some of the hotels that are part of the project.

Ana from Blatchington said: “I liked being listened to,” and Julian from Blatchington said he enjoyed: “Meeting the business owners.”
All the students felt the project had been successful, they all said they had made a lot of new friends and one even said the project had brought: “emotional enrichment.”

Alison Browning from Varndean School is very happy with the project. She said: “We didn’t think it was going to be this big.”

They now have posters made to put up around their schools, business cards with the QR logo to link people with smart phones straight to the website and small leaflets available for anyone interested.

Now the website is up and running the next step will be to keep it going, making sure it stays relevant and effective. The students will be passing the project on to the new Year 10 volunteers. Hannah said: “students will ensure it is kept up to date.”  They are hoping this will continue every year, with each group bringing new ideas to the website.

BEACH can be found at www.brightonandhovejobs.com/beach/

By Rosanna Apps, student at Brighton Journalist Works

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk