On December 3rd, the inaugural Youth Employment UK (YEUK) Symposium and Awards took place in Birmingham, where Coach Core Foundation (CCF) proudly received the Good Youth Employment award in the SME (Small/Medium Employer) category. This recognition stems from our exceptional efforts to engage underrepresented groups and create inclusive employment opportunities for young people.
Our award-winning work follows the completion of the 2024 Good Youth Employment Benchmark, a significant project that evaluated employers’ youth employment strategies across three key categories: Explore, Experience, and Employment. CCF participated in the benchmark to assess our practices and identify areas for further investment in youth employment, receiving tailored feedback to help refine our recruitment processes.
Key Areas of Feedback:
- Experience: CCF is in the ‘creating’ stage, with plans to offer valuable workplace visits and job shadowing for young people.
- Explore: CCF is in the ‘connecting’ stage, successfully targeting underrepresented youth with career talks, events, and job application support.
- Employment: CCF is in the ‘committing’ stage, providing apprenticeships and graduate schemes, with an inclusive recruitment day demonstrating our commitment to diverse hiring practices.
We also highlighted major milestones, including onboarding over 1,000 apprentices and launching our Project 1500 strategy to further expand opportunities. This progress, along with our commitment to continuous improvement, helped us earn top accolades from YEUK.
Judges’ Comments: Despite our size, CCF was praised for delivering significant support throughout the benchmark stages. We were commended for offering over 1,000 opportunities, including career talks, events, and job application support, and for engaging nearly 300 young people in apprenticeship and graduate schemes.
The judges also noted, “CCF works hard to develop inclusive outreach and program strategies from the Explore stage, involving young people in the design and delivery of programs. Their commitment to monitoring and evaluating activities ensures a responsive approach to the needs of underrepresented groups.”