Appeal for 50 volunteers to promote industry
Underlining its commitment to bringing more youngsters into the fenestration industry, Building Our Skills has strengthened its collaboration with the Education and Employers Charity to promote its ‘Inspiring the Future’ programme.
Inspiring The Future has been designed to connect young people with the world of work by encouraging volunteers to visit schools (in person or virtually) to help inform youngsters about the possibilities for their future careers and what they could achieve. The renewed collaboration is seen by Building Our Skills as key in helping to acquaint school age children, and their teachers with the fenestration industry, and to communicate to them the broad range of job roles and career paths it offers.
The campaign connects volunteers to state primary and secondary schools via its free match-making platform. Volunteers are asked to give at just one hour a year to the programme, although they can choose to do more if they would like to help inspire children.
The first step is to register on the Education and Employers or Building Our Skills websites and complete a form. Teachers who have signed their schools up to the programme can see details of the volunteer, where they are based and the industry they are in, and then invite them to talk to their school about the job they do and the industry they do it in.
Invitations for in person school visits are based around volunteers being local to the school in question, whereas virtual visits can be delivered from anywhere in the UK. Volunteers are supported by the Inspiring the Future team and are given access to training videos as well as training webinars and forums should they wish. Building Our Skills will provide key facts and figures for volunteers to use about the industry itself.
Building Our Skills has highlighted the education sector as the single most important area for the industry to focus on to raise awareness of the opportunities it offers and to inspire future generations to look to fenestration, glass and glazing as a career of choice.
Ambassador for Building Our Skills, John Ogilvie, said: “I urge the fenestration industry to acknowledge the need to get more involved with schools and colleges. Working with Inspiring The Future is a great approach to attracting new talent to the industry.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to be able to show youngsters the vast range of career opportunities they could aspire to, long before they reach the age when they have to decide. Helping teachers and parents – who are key influencers in this process – to inspire young people to experience what future options are open to them is something that will benefit the fenestration industry greatly. We all recognise that the industry is facing a skills shortage, and this campaign is designed to offer a long-term solution.
Katy Langham, director of operations and programmes for Inspiring the Future added: “We’re delighted to have strengthened our partnership with Building Our Skills to get fenestration, glass and glazing sector volunteers out into schools and talking to young people about the exciting careers that it offers. I too would like to urge employers and employees in the sector to come forward and volunteer. It’s incredibly rewarding, and I can promise volunteers that they won’t regret it!”
Building Our Skills’ immediate aim is to get 50 industry volunteers to sign up to support the campaign and to grow it from there.
Those interested in volunteering can do so by clicking here https://buildingourskills.co.uk/campaigns/inspiring-the-future/
Or for more information on this campaign and Building Our Skills – Making Fenestration, Glass and Glazing a Career of Choice – visit www.buildingourskills.co.uk