CAREERS and guidance organisation Positive Steps
is looking to develop its services for youngsters with
help from employers in Oldham and across Greater
Manchester.
As funding for traditional school-based careers
guidance is being reduced, Positive Steps, based at
Union Street in Oldham town centre, is looking to
offer more than just a traditional careers service by
developing visits to workplaces and seeing businesses
in growing economic sectors.
Darren Whiston, the organisation’s business
development manager, said: “We have developed a
Positive Steps Academy of resources and services that
we can deliver directly to schools and individuals. These
are based around aspects of post-16 life that schools
probably won’t cover.
“One of these is arranging aspirational visits to
employers in Oldham and Manchester city centre. We
take a group of young people out for the day, teach them
about independent travel and visit employers to help
them get more ideas about the world of work.
“We can make visits to employers based on economic
growth sectors and tailor the events to suit the cohort
of young people we are taking. Three-quarters of the
advertised job vacancies across Greater Manchester’s
ten local authority areas are for locations within
Manchester city centre. This can be intimidating
for some young people, especially because some
of the youngsters we work with have never been to
Manchester city centre.
“We give young people up-to-date knowledge about
jobs and careers. This can be a real eye-opener for them
and can help to raise their own aspirations and see what
it might be like to work in central Manchester or other
parts of the region.
We are planning six aspirational visits over the summer
holidays, allowing parents to book places for their
children. We also include visits to cultural sites too,
where some of the youngsters will have never visited.
“Overall these are great activities that widen youngsters’
horizons as well as being incredibly impactful about the
world of work, and their own hopes and dreams.
Darren Whiston can be contacted at Positive
Steps on 0161 621 9322 or 0161 621 9500. Email:
darrenwhiston@positive-steps.org.uk.