County Council signs up to help inspire young people

A national campaign that seeks to help young people with their future careers is being supported by East Sussex County Council.

The Council has joined the ‘Inspiring the Future’ campaign, which means staff from the authority can register with the scheme and volunteer to go into schools to talk to pupils about their jobs.

Early volunteers to the scheme include Chief Executive Becky Shaw, Children’s Services Assistant Director Liz Rugg and Business Admin apprentice George Carpenter from Hailsham Children’s Centre.

The aim of the initiative is to help students to make informed decisions about their futures and have an insight into the world of work, particular employers and different employment sectors.

The Council is now promoting the scheme to its staff including those who have progressed through the organisation via different routes such as apprenticeships, volunteering and promotion.

County Council Chief Executive Becky Shaw said: “I’m delighted that we’ve signed up to this initiative and I would urge other local employers to do the same. It’s just a minimum of two hours a year of staff time and in doing so you’ll be supporting East Sussex schools by providing an insight in to the world of work.

“Businesses can register through www.inspiringfutures.org.uk and we would also encourage all schools in East Sussex to sign up to the website and make links with local companies”.

Business admin apprentice George Carpenter said: “Being an apprentice has been amazing; the team around me has been very supportive and enabled me to develop my skills as well as become more confident. It would be great to share this with school students close to my age, as I feel they can relate to me and also benefit from the apprenticeship programme.”