Pictured: Sarah Hill, head of the new Engagement Team at Positive Outcomes, the national training organisation, which has been launched to help 16 to 24 year olds into work through apprenticeships

Positive Outcomes, the national organisation specialising in helping school leavers and young people into work through apprenticeships, has expanded its way of working to offer opportunities to the young unemployed up to 24 years old.

"Statistics announced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last week* revealed that the number of unemployed 16 to 24 year olds has reached a record high of 991,000," comments Positive Outcomes' Sarah Hill.

"As an organisation committed to working with school leavers and young people to create real opportunities for work-based learning and skills development through apprenticeships, we have taken the strategic decision to widen the age group of the young workers we work with. In this way we can increase and enhance the support and assistance available to young people aged 16, 17 and18 and now up to 24 years old, so that we may respond to the challenges they are facing in the increasingly competitive jobs market."

Positive Outcomes' new-look Engagement Team, based at its head office in the East Midlands, expands the specialist service delivered by its long-established Apprenticeship Team, which is dedicated to working with school leavers to find apprenticeships across the UK. "As a learning provider, it is important that we are flexible in how we work with school leavers, young people, the employed, and employers too," says Sarah. 

"By creating the Engagement Team and expanding the service to include school leavers and now all those aged 19 to 24 years of age who have been out of work for thirteen weeks, we can optimise the range of support available to them, whilst engaging with more businesses and employers throughout the UK."

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) the latest unemployment market figures are 'horrific'; with 5.6 unemployed people for every job vacancy the labour market is back to where it was in the depths of the 2009 recession.

Sarah comments: "Unemployment amongst young people aged 18 to 24 is increasing at a fast and growing rate and there has been a dramatic increase in long-term youth unemployment for some time. It is vital that training and learning providers like Positive Outcomes do what they can to educate school leavers, young people and companies themselves on the merits of apprenticeships. The government has made much of its backing of apprentices and the National Apprenticeship Scheme. Our Engagement Team is positioned to support this by being flexible and responsive to the challenges facing the young unemployed and the ambitions of the government."

She adds: "Apprenticeships are designed to give young people an edge, a job opportunity, and above all, the fantastic opportunity to acquire and develop a skill and career progression. For those with the right level of ambition, aptitude and drive to learn, apprenticeships are excellent, and include a comprehensive programme of work-based learning. For employers themselves, apprenticeships present the opportunity to give their business sustainability and to create the skills base they need."

According to Michelle Lamb of Prolog, the market leader in outsourced promotional and retail logistics and customer communications, pursuing an Apprenticeship qualification has been an excellent experience: "Work-based training as part of the apprenticeship programme is a brilliant idea for people of all ages, and the scheme and working with Positive Outcomes has given me confidence and the self-belief that I can achieve anything!"

For Lauren Ostler, who has recently been offered a full time post as a Negotiator following her apprenticeship programme with estate agents Connells, apprenticeships are an excellent opportunity: "I was thrilled to be offered a full-time role at Connells on the back of my apprenticeship. Putting the skills learned on the course into practice through the apprentice placement provides an invaluable learning opportunity which I think was key to my new position."

Positive Outcomes has an average of fifty live apprenticeships for businesses across the UK at any one time. For details of all Apprenticeship vacancies visit: www.positiveoutcomes.org.uk. For more information and guidance on how to apply contact Apprenticeship Adviser Jade Winterton on 0845 643 5566.

Positive Outcomes is a national organisation specialising in work-based training, apprenticeships and recruitment. With its head office just off J28 of the M1 and more than 150 staff, it operates across the UK with offices in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Bristol. 

* 12th October 2011.