Firebrand & Youth Employment Success Deliver – Operation:Find My Job

To create a fun & inclusive careers event utilising brand, collateral and advertising which delivered the registration of 75 rangatahi aged 16-24 years. Providing them with opportunities to have positive interactions with a range of employers from strategically important industries with a particular focus on reaching marginalised communities such as Māori and Pasifika peoples and females interested in trades and services. Whilst also mitigating the challenges of meeting face to face posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Housed within and springboarded from a previous (2019) Good Design Gold Award Winning progamme, Youth Employment Success (https://good-design.org/projects/yes-youth-employment-success/), this alignment was pivotal to success.

Research, workshopping and collaboration were initiated early in the project (with the inclusion of regional partners, youth organisations and youth). Branding, collateral and advertising undertaken with a "for youth by youth" approach to ensure advertising connected with rangatahi. Cultural design collaboration was prioritised with the engagement of Māori and Pasifika artists from Firebrand & Rā Designs. Marketing was undertaken using platforms with a large youth demographic, ensuring budgets were used efficiently. Hosting the event online mitigated any COVID-19 related cancellations using a customisable, interactive virtual space platform, enabling us to create a unique event, tailored to the needs of our audience.

The event registrations exceeded the required total of 75 attendee registrations in the 16-24 year age bracket by over 300% with a total of 266 registrations with many of those being one registration for a classroom and many individuals in that classroom. By opting to deliver the event/marketing and resources digitally we could then extend the event registrations beyond a singular region increasing accessibility/attendance nationwide, removing the travel barrier and utilising fewer physical resources whilst also reducing the event's environmental impact.

Being a values driven business it was important to the Firebrand team that we expand upon the stipulated outcomes of the event researching the challenges faced by our rangatahi on their employment journey, identifying areas that we could make a difference to create the greatest social impact. The main factors identified as contributing to NEET youth in Aotearoa fit within 3 categories. Personal Factors - the individual/their situation Network Factors - relationships, experience/intergenerational issues Labour Market Factors - supply/demand & employment competition The following interventions were identified to address these: Personal factors - Encouraging experiential learning increasing soft skills & knowledge via direct interaction with employers on live Q&A webinars and opportunities for face to face communication with industry/employers via the YES website Network factors - Providing access to an array of employers/industries to increase networking capabilities and personal connections to employers that offer employment-based experience to youth via an accessible database of employers, work experience opportunities & live webinars. Labour market Factors - Event guest speakers were selected from a range of strategically important industries ensuring information was provided on industries that are currently experiencing growth/demand in the labour market those industries were: Primary Industries Social & Community Services Engineering & Automotive Trades & Infrastructure Tourism Hospitality & Retail Tech & Creativity