THE number of companies to sign up to a government scheme helping young people find opportunities in the wake of the pandemic has topped 500.
It is a landmark stage in the development the Young Person’s Guarantee, which is offering all young Scots a job, apprenticeship or college place.
A wide variety of industries and business size, with 73 per cent being SMEs, have pledged opportunities for 9,000 young people.
Gleneagles Hotel, ScottishPower, SSE and Compass Scotland are among those to back the scheme.
Jamie Hepburn, Scottish minister for youth employment and training, said the scheme has provided “a Covid lifeline for many aged between 16 and 24 offering the opportunity to study, take up an apprenticeship, job or work experience, or participate in formal volunteering”.
He said: “Companies across the country, big and small, are helping build the workforce of the future and by signing up are giving Scotland’s young people hope for the future as the country recovers from the damaging pandemic. It also helps connect employers and young people, which is a big benefit to companies wishing to access a future workforce and help tackle recruitment challenges.”
The landmark was marked by a ministerial visit to ScottishPower’s training centre at Dealain House, Cumbernauld where Mr Hepburn met some graduate and craft trainees.
A ScottishPower spokesperson said: “We are a proud supporter of the Young Person’s Guarantee and are currently recruiting for approximately 280 trainee opportunities – apprentices, graduates, graduate apprentices and Adult Craft Trainees.”
Emma Simpson, of Gleneagles Hotel, said: "Hospitality is a progressive and rewarding career path; a chance to develop skills, travel the world, experience new cultures, learn languages, and a springboard for young people to unlock their talent and potential.
“Through our commitment to the guarantee, we’re thrilled to be nurturing the next generation of hospitality leaders though a diverse range of career and learning opportunities."
Hannah Kirkham, from Perth, who joined Gleneagles as a culinary apprentice in February, said the guarantee "is not just about gaining technical skills, we’re also learning about the importance of team building and social skills".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here