News
Young Adults Find Employment With Ibrox Youth Hub
Wed 23rd February 2022
More than 80 young people have gained full-time employment with the help of the Rangers Charity Foundation’s Ibrox Youth Hub.
Candidates ranging from 18 to 24 years-old have benefitted from one-to-one bespoke sessions and achieveing qualifications which successfully secured a job with a number of Rangers Charity Foundation partners in sectors across Scotland.
In partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Ibrox Youth Hub has successfully helped place 88 young people into employment and saw a further 50 candidates go on enrol at a university, college or other forms of training since the partnership began in March 2021.
The Youth Hub, one of 160 to be set up across the UK, was the first of its kind to be introduced by a Charity Foundation and football club.
Jamie Duncanson, Senior Community Executive at the Foundation, oversees the Foundation’s employability courses and liaised closely with Jobcentre Plus in developing the Ibrox Youth Hub initiative. He said:
“The Youth Hub is targeting 18 to 24-year-olds who have been affected badly by the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to employability opportunities.
“What makes us different from other Youth Hubs in the UK is that we are based at the stadium, and we utilise the hook of the club and the partnership engagement it brings has been a great success.”
The Youth Hub hosts programmes such as the Ready for Employment course which runs from three to six weeks and supports young people with social barriers such as; long term unemployment, additional support needs, young parents and involvement within the criminal justice system.
The criteria and course detail is determined by the nature of the attendees and course duration. As well as attaining various qualifications such as SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) awards, first aid and mental health first aid, candidates also benefited from programme workshops which included; CV building, breaking down barriers, interview techniques, motivational talks, IT skills training, team building exercises and information on health and wellbeing.
Work experience within local businesses is also available to candidates.
James Savage is the DWP Jobcentre Plus youth employability work coach based at the Ibrox Youth Hub. He said:
“The Ibrox Youth Hub has been the most successful Youth Hub in the country. The DWP has 160 different Youth Hubs opened up throughout the UK in past 12 months and they are trying to emulate what the RCF are doing.
“One of the biggest barriers you can get in a job centre is the job centre itself because it’s really formal. It stresses out a lot of young people going into a job centre, so Ibrox breaks that down as it’s a very well-established club, very well-known.
“The young person is a lot more relaxed. We can help candidates with CVs, mock interviews and the RCF offers first aid training. We can also help with funding for interview clothes and travel.
“We try and break down as many barriers as we can to help the young person succeed.
“You get to know them, find out their aspirations and what they want to do. Then we can sit with them over a few weeks and try and get them into a job or further education.”
Employers and further training providers, from sectors such; as hospitality, construction, and retail, are invited to the Youth Hub to engage and support candidates with the next step of their employment aspirations.
Jack Moss, 19, and Gerald Peacock, 24, are among 15 attendees of the Youth Hub who have been employed full-time by RCF partner, Scotsman Hospitality Group. They are both based at the Corinthian Club in Glasgow City centre.
Jack, an apprentice chef, said:
“Working here has given me a lot of confidence in my own ability, it’s given me some new pride in what I do. It’s given me a lot of confidence to talk to people, work as part of a team and show off my skills.
“I am involved in lots of different things like cooking with different meats, preparing food. You’re not just doing one job every day.
“I am super thankful to the Rangers Charity Foundation. I wouldn’t have got here by myself.”
Gerald added: “I have been working as a kitchen porter, but I will soon be cooking with different meats and seafood
“At the moment I clean everything the chefs use to make the food and wipe everything down and prepare some of the food.
“It’s brilliant and it’s good for my mental health. It’s made my life stable. I have never had a job in my life, and I have been given a good opportunity and I am thankful for it. I am enjoying it as well, it’s brilliant.
“This is what I want do with my life. I want to be a chef.”
