Harry Redknapp Launches Brighton Love Local Jobs Foundation

LoveLocalJobs.com launched their first online jobs board in 2010 to support both employers and job-seekers in Brighton and Hove. Since then, the focus has been all about LOCAL.

The aim of creating award-winning regional job boards and employability programmes is to significantly raise the career aspirations of future generations. LoveLocalJobs.com works together with partners to ensure every young person has the tools, confidence and knowledge needed to step up and realise their full potential.

LoveLocalJobs.com last month launched the Love Local Jobs Foundation in Sussex – a not-for-profit enterprise supported on the day by football legend Harry Redknapp. We asked the Foundation to tell us more about its vital work.

What does the Love Local Jobs Foundation do?

As well as advertising the region’s best job opportunities, we proactively link businesses with universities, colleges and schools. We work with the public sector, third sector and other amazing organisations to create local employment opportunities whilst also providing much-needed careers, information, advice and guidance to local businesses and job-seekers alike.

Why did you launch the Foundation?

After seeing first-hand how face-to-face collaborations can work to bridge the gap between education and employment, and receiving feedback from employers about the gaps they were experiencing in their talent pipelines, we decided to take this a step further and use our networks and relationships to build an infrastructure within which schools and businesses can work more closely together for mutual benefit. We created a well-received community engagement programme, Be the Change, in 2015.

Tell us more about Be the Change

Be the Change is an inspirational programme aimed at students who have become disengaged with school or lack confidence in their own abilities. They may struggle academically, but have real potential once engaged in an activity that captures their imagination.

The programme focusses on happiness, confidence, hope, relationships and employability. It encourages students to identify their personal barriers to success and helps them to find ways of overcoming them. Business representatives from local organisations are invited to be involved throughout the programme as mentors and guides. They are invited to act as role models and share their experiences and career stories. This is achieved over six separate interactions/activities.

They include three conferences, two one-to-one mentoring sessions and a workplace visit. The programme helps students to believe in themselves, develop 21st century skills and understand what positive changes they need to make in order to realise their aspirations. It helps them to focus on what qualities and qualifications are required to be successful in life and work.

• What are the core objectives of Be the Change?
• To increase business mentoring in schools
• To bridge the gap between education and employment
• To develop the life skills and employability skills of young people
• To create sustainable networking opportunities for young people
• To build stronger and more meaningful partnerships between local schools and businesses
• To encourage sharing of best practice for careers teaching between schools
• To strengthen the profile of local employers and related career opportunities and to engage and develop employee volunteers on both a personal and professional level
• To inspire young people to consider their route into employment whether that be through FE, HE or via an apprenticeship, traineeship or work experience placement