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Every business we engage with reports difficulties in finding the right skills to support their growth. Skills shortages and bottlenecked skills pipelines create significant competition for talent. These problems are found across all sectors and in businesses of all sizes, from large corporates to SMEs.
Today’s skills and careers landscapes can be complex and confusing for young people to navigate, at times being overwhelming. This, combined with the dynamic and rapidly changing in-demand skills needed for the future world of work, can lead to:
- Inequality of opportunity for young people, negatively affecting social mobility.
- Lack of pathway parity, where anything other than a degree is seen as sub-optimal, a perception that must change.
- Immediate and longer-term skills shortages across all sectors, which without collective and collaborative action, is only likely to get worse.
- A weak skills market today, and significant bottlenecks in future skills pipelines.
Overall, these issues can contribute to persistent levels of economic inactivity, inhibit business and economic growth, and result in high levels of training churn.
4C UR Future have an ambitious vision to involve, inform, and inspire every young person in Northern Ireland, enabling them to make more empowered education and career choices, and optimising their opportunity to contribute to society and the economy.
As an industry-led social enterprise, our work would not be possible without the support we receive from our members – employers and supporting organisations of all sizes and from all sectors.
Get in touch to find out how you can play your part.
Many careers initiatives are dependent on school location, resources, or happenchance. This results in inequality of opportunity and economic disadvantages.
Our ambition is to work with employers and stakeholders to help every young person in NI become the best version of themselves and foresee their own futures.
We do this by independently facilitating industry-led and enhanced careers support, and we’re starting with the following initiatives:
4C UR Future LIVE
4C UR Future LIVE is a fast-paced and action-packed careers inspiration event for Year 9 pupils, featuring work-based games and skills challenges that are developed in collaboration with local employers from across NI.
The games aim to draw out and identify each young person’s strengths and attributes, relative to future of work employability criteria, with each participant receiving a ‘Player Feedback Profile’ after the event.
4C UR Future LIVE events are facilitated by over 500 volunteers from over 80 cross-sectoral businesses and organisations.
4C UR Future CAREERS PORTAL
The 4C UR Future CAREERS PORTAL is a digital engagement platform full of useful resources, activities, and signposting to further sources of information and support.
Resources are developed collaboratively with local employers to ensure they are up to date, relevant, and relatable – showcasing the wide range of employers and career opportunities available right here in Northern Ireland.
The 4C UR Future CAREERS PORTAL is a first generation pilot platform that is being released in phases. The first release in 2022 is for Year 10 pupils.
Our members can benefit from:
- Cost-effective engagement with significant numbers of local schools and young people, as well as others across Northern Ireland, through a collective and collaborative approach.
- An enhanced business profile with local schools, parents, and young people; your potential future employees.
- Helping to shape skills and careers information and resources specific to your sector and company, hosted on the 4C UR Future CAREERS PORTAL.
- Training and development opportunities for your employees who can volunteer as 'Career Heroes' to facilitate 4C UR Future LIVE and be featured in Career Content.
- Networking with cross-sectoral businesses and organisations as part of a grassroots careers inspiration movement.
- Evidenced Corporate Social Responsibility and creating lasting social value impact, in line with the UN Sustainability Goals.
- Working collaboratively to make a real difference to the prospects of our young people.