Watford Works against Youth Unemployment

A four-week employability programme is offering 16-24 year-olds the chance to get back into work.

Watford FC, Camelot and Jobcentre Plus have teamed together and created the Watford Works project to teach unemployed young people essential work skills.

The course provides a range of beneficial exercises covering CV building, mock interviews and meetings with industry experts. Different partners from the Watford area are encouraged to get involved, including local government and businesses that organisers recognise “add value” to the project. A past participant of Watford Works, Milton De Paula, is a great example of the 85% success rate as he now works for Camelot thanks to the programme.

“Before attending Watford Works I had been unemployed for almost 2 years,” says De Paula, who found out about the course through the job centre. “I learned quite a bit through the wide variety of activities there and as well as being helpful, the exercises had an element of fun to them.” After the course De Paula was offered two work opportunities, and as a direct result of attending Watford Works he is now a junior developer at Camelot.

Every year the organisation delivers eight four-week employability courses, in a bid to tackle the statistics that say one in five young people not in education, training or employment. Participants often leave the programme with better future prospects having worked on personal development and confidence, but it is key that those attending are ready to play their part. “Although the teachers help a lot, Watford Works is very much an independent learning sort of course. You have to do the work,” says De Paula.

The programme has led to partakers enrolling at university and starting jobs in teaching, retail and catering. 20 year-old ex-offender Ryan, who was given guidance to improve his CV and a cover letter, has been offered a live-in chef role at a local golf club.  The "Watford Works" scheme has now had 8 successful courses and looks forward to many more!

To find out more about Watford Works and attending the course, contact Jobcentre Plus on 0845 604 3719.  Local businesses interested in offering their expertise at workshops should contact Watford FC Community Sports & Education Trust on 01923 496292.

Written by Sophie Wolf.

 

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