Creative Industries employers have heard from skills professionals how they can encourage young people into their sector at a business breakfast event held in Nottingham.
D2N2, alongside the Creative Industries Federation, hosted the event aimed at companies working in the Creative Industries sectors in the D2N2 region, who are concerned about skills shortages within their sector.
Delegates were encouraged to begin engaging with local schools through the D2N2 Enterprise Adviser Network to promote their industry and the career paths within it.
Employers can even support schools on a strategic level to improve the information that young people receive about the world of work by becoming an Enterprise Adviser.
Enterprise Advisers are volunteers from businesses who work closely with the headteacher or Senior Leadership Team of a school or college to provide strategic support.
Advisers use their business experience and professional networks to help put opportunities with creative employers at the heart of a young person’s education.
D2N2 Enterprise Advisers
CEO of Ideagen and D2N2 Enterprise Adviser Ben Dorks was one of the speakers at the event, telling delegates: “Two years ago an IT teacher told me that they’d actually stopped offering IT as a GCSE course as nobody wanted to do it. That’s what made me decide to get involved.”
“The reality is that when I saw one person apply and get a job with us from the school we work with I thought, yes we’ve made a difference.”
“What we’re doing is giving aspiration and hope to a whole generation. We are making a difference.”
Other speakers included Catherine Mayhew from the Creative Quarter and Andy Afford from the Young Creatives Award.
D2N2 Enterprise Coordinator Caroline Tomlinson who helped organise the event said: “It was great to see that local creative businesses are keen to engage with schools and to find out more about how they can work with schools through the Enterprise Adviser Network.”
“The creative industries offer so many excellent career options and yet are often overlooked as potential career paths by young people, simply due to a lack of understanding of the wealth of opportunity within the sector.”
D2N2 Enterprise Adviser Network
D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, in partnership with the Careers & Enterprise Company, operates the Enterprise Adviser Network, designed to help businesses interact with schools and linking enterprise advisers to education providers.
To date the Enterprise Coordinators have engaged with 128 schools across the region, helping schools form their careers strategy and take part in careers-focused activities for students.
Media wanting more information about the D2N2 LEP can contact Luke Stott, D2N2 Digital Marketing Officer, on 0115 9578749 or email: Luke.Stott@d2n2lep.org
