The Swindon & Wiltshire Careers Hub is a pilot project, working with 56 Swindon and Wiltshire based secondary schools and colleges, since September 2018, with an aim of improving careers support for young people in the area.  The Careers Hub is a partnership between the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC), Swindon & Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (SWLEP), Swindon Borough Council (SBC) and Wiltshire Council (WC).  Additionally, the Careers Hub encompasses the work of the Swindon and Wiltshire Enterprise Adviser Network (SWEAN) which originally built and coordinated lasting connections between business, schools and colleges across the SWLEP area.

Volunteer Enterprise Advisers (EAs) from business work directly with school and college Senior Leadership Teams or Career Leaders, to develop effective employer engagement plans ensuring young people have the skills they need to excel in education and life.  Currently the Careers Hub is working with 58 Enterprise Advisers across the region.

 In October 2019 The CEC’s report ‘Careers Hubs: One Year On’ identified that nationally, within the first year of the Careers Hub pilot:

  • Two third of schools and colleges in Hubs ran regular encounters with employers, compared with just over a third (36%) in schools and colleges outside the network
  • Nearly three in five schools and colleges in Hubs ran work experience compared to around a third (35%) outside the network.

Within the Swindon & Wiltshire Careers Hub progress in these areas was steady with:

  • 56% of schools and colleges fully achieving Gatsby Benchmark 5: encounters with employers and employees.
  • 49% of schools and colleges fully achieving Gatsby Benchmark 6: experiences of the workplace.

However, at the end of year 1 of the pilot, it was identified that progress within the Swindon and Wiltshire Careers Hub had plateaued and a more focussed and accelerated approach was needed to ensure that schools and colleges were able to provide a more consistent offer of careers activities and guidance for all young people in the area.  The results reflected in the Closing the Gap report by The Careers & Enterprise Company (January 2020) for the SWLEP area reflect these end of year 1 figures.

During the period of September – December 2019 the Careers Hub team, in partnership with the Enterprise Advisers across the region, worked closely with the Career Leaders in all schools and colleges developing individual action plans for each institution and ensuring that a wide range of local and national stakeholders were engaged in the career’s activities in the local area.

Additionally, the Careers Hub has recently set up a Cornerstone Employer Group for the area.  A Cornerstone Employer is one whose organisation works with a group of other employers who are already engaged with schools and colleges in the local area to ensure that all young people have the opportunity to prepare for and feel inspired by the world of work. The Swindon and Wiltshire Cornerstone Employer Group includes Capita WFM, NHS: Great Western Hospital Foundation Trust, Wiltshire Council and Atkins Global and is currently working on a range of activities to improve both the local offer for encounters with employers and employees and experiences of the workplace.