Supporting young people to enter the world of work and make progress towards their career goals is a central part of Fight for Peace’s methodology, Employability being one of our Five Pillars. Our Employment Lead, Josh Thomas is a key part of this drive to support young people on their chosen career path. We sat down with him to find out more about what Fight for Peace members can expect from our employment support, and the joys and challenges of accompanying young people’s journeys to their dream jobs.

Josh, tell us about the approach Fight for Peace takes to Employability?

Josh Thomas: For me, providing a welcoming, relaxed, upbeat 1:1 setting is the most important thing in our employability offer. As every ones goals are different, we form a bespoke action plan for the individual. The first thing we do is conduct a thorough two part assessment and action plan with young people. This consists of a baseline assessment to identify the young person’s level of achievement as well as where they would like to make improvements. The second part of the assessment is done via Skills Builder online to identify eight personal development areas that young people can focus on.

What is Skills Builder?

JT: Skills builder is a really good tool to build up your personal development. Someone of any age can say I want to improve in a specific skill area like communication, listening or leadership and Skills Builder provides a fun way to see where you are at and where you can do better. As a practitioner it gives me an excellent sense of which skills we need to focus on in order to support the young person to get where they want.

What is the process for you to start working with young people?

JT: We get referrals from lots of different sources, including members of staff at Fight for Peace, parents and our partners in the community and in the Fight for Peace Alliance. Young people also approach us themselves with the aim of developing their skills and career prospects. When young people join Fight for Peace they are made aware of the services on offer and so they know where to come to get support with employment. Part of their induction process includes an opportunity to request support in employability and so their are many avenues they can take to get support from myself.

What can a young person expect from employment support at Fight for Peace?

JT: We create a bespoke action plan for young people to achieve their personal career goals. That could be through building interview and communication skills, getting CVs and cover letters sorted, and looking at how to search for jobs. We do mock Interviews including linking up with organisations to provide young people with practice that feels real within the sector of their choice. In addition we share job opportunities – we have a WhatsApp group of job opportunities, courses and workshops -, take young people to job fairs and insight days, and accompany everything via a series of 1-1 mentoring sessions. 

Where young people have more niche pathways in mind, we are able to refer them to employability partners or entities who can help with tailored support that responds to their needs. The age group of young people we work with is 16-25 however, we work on occasion with the younger ones aged 13-15 helping them to see what careers are available by providing insight days.

A really important part of the job lies in detecting barriers in young people’s paths as well as strategies to overcome them. These could be personal issues, things like finance, clothing, housing, and it;s vital to make sure that the young person’s mental and physical health is right. This is just as important for an employment practitioner as making sure they have the skills for doing the job. 

And young people also get real experience in house working at Fight for Peace right? Can you give us an example of that?

JT: Yes that’s right. We recently ran a project to get personal trainers qualified and then they in turn are running our Fighting Fit [strength and conditioning] classes over the summer. I accompany their journey with 1:1 support and it has been a really interesting experience. We’ve been going through things like how to complete an invoice, making sure that young people have a structured approach, and that they understand the importance of turning up on time etc.

In some cases they have had to learn fast and up their game in terms of time keeping, communication, dedication and making sure they are completing their invoices! Getting these fundamentals nailed down is vital and it’s great that we can offer this support in house to these young people to learn in a safe and supportive setting. 

To find out more about Fight for Peace’s Employability support and to make a referral, you can contact Josh at josh@fightforpeace.net