It’s tough out there. With 20.5% of 16-25 year olds in London currently unemployed, we understand how hard it is to get a job at the moment. We appreciate even with qualifications or work experience it can still be a challenge to getting into employment, the reality is that too long without work can also leave you lacking in confidence and motivation.

What we've been doing

Since June 2009 the Youth Action team has placed 180 young people into work through the government initiative Future Jobs Fund, the majority of these have been in positions within our member organisations. Although the scheme sadly came to an end in March this year the experience has given us a huge passion for supporting young people into employment.

Extra help

The Youth Action team have developed employability workshops which, as well as increasing skills and giving tips, work to raise both aspirations and confidence when approaching the job market. We know how important it is to hear from other young people who have been successful in gaining employment, hearing their stories and those of the team is a powerful part of our training. We also trained young people as peer mentors through our peer mentoring programme, enabling them to offer young job-seekers the 1:1 support so needed.

Youth Work careers

A recent survey listed Youth Work as one of the top jobs that interested young people. Yet our experience tells us many don’t know how to get into a career in youth work. Our former programme Youth Works gave young people the opportunity to volunteer in a member youth club whilst taking their Level 1 Foundation in Youth Work qualification. Young people giving back to their communities by becoming role models and community leaders is something we’re passionate about at London Youth, we know good youth work works and we want to support young people into this important and career.

Get in touch!

If you are interested in finding more about our work in this area please contact Nicola Moore by email at nicola.moore@londonyouth.org.uk