Skills charity Generation UK launches first social impact report
Report shows how the charity’s skills bootcamps are improving the job prospects and life chances of young tech jobseekers, and unlocking opportunity for tech employers and the wider digital economy
The Social Impact Report launched late last week at an event hosted by BlackRock, which saw speakers not just from Generation UK, but from the companies who work with Generation and most importantly of all, from some of those who had won places on skills bootcamps and were now in the early stages of tech careers.
Since it launched in 2019, Generation UK has been on a mission to support the three million people in the UK who are either unemployed or economically inactive but would like to work, through a model of bootcamp training - focusing on supporting people into in-demand careers, particularly digital roles.
At the launch event, UK CEO Michael Houlihan outlined some of the structural challenges facing young adults who have grown up in financially difficult circumstances. A recent report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that intergenerational income mobility is lower for those who were born in the late eighties than it was for those born 30 years earlier.
Introducing the Social Impact Report's key findings, Hugh Chatfield, Director of Growth, Data & Operations at Generation UK said:
"Unemployment is disproportionately experienced by certain groups. Young people from ethnic minorities, those with disabilities and those without degrees are at least twice as likely as other young people to be unemployed and to remain unemployed. The point at which these characteristics intersect creates further challenges. Traditional recruiting channels perpetuate these inequalities which is why only a fifth of those in the best tech sector jobs are women or from ethnic minorities. "
The report uses four years of data tracking to highlight the role of skills bootcamps in driving increased socioeconomic mobility. Unlocking opportunities for young people creates opportunities for business, and the wider economy.
To date, the charity has supported over 2,300 jobseekers - the majority being from low-income and minority groups - across the country. Generation UK programmes have been proven to double the chances of finding a job within six months after graduating.
Why extending opportunity matters
A panel of employers and other not-for-profit organisations working with Generation UK discussed the importance of extending opportunities far more widely - for employers as well as their potential employees. One interesting contribution was from Alice Bentinck MBE, Co-founder of Entrepreneur First, Code First Girls and now trustee of Generation UK, who noted the importance of the cohort effect that bootcamps create.
"It's not just about the skills. The cohort model creates a community. To be a woman in tech can be intimidating as typically you're surrounded by men. One of the great things about Code First Girls is that they'd all meet up before a conference and go in together. We now have some of those early cohorts in more senior positions and they're hiring code first girls - the next generation is coming though. Generation is also building these amazing cohorts."
Renee Hunt, CTO at Compare the Market, outlined why universities aren't producing the kinds of graduates a Fintech like Compare The Market needs.
"University doesn't generally produce people who can code. They have great aptitude and understand the theory but we were finding we had to train people coming out of university to code. Now our early careers are all people either going through apprenticeships or coming out of skills bootcamps. We work with Generation specifically around shortage skills such as data engineering and use bootcamps for cloud and we've also taken on an infosec apprentice thought that route."
Hunt also raised the fact that it's important, given the demographic of people that are likely to be using Compare the Market, that the people developing the products have some experience of the kinds of challenges customers are likely to be experiencing.
The most moving contributions came from a panel of young adults who had benefited from Generation bootcamps and were all now working in technical roles in companies such as Cap Gemini, AWS and Hastings Direct.
Victory Uchenna, Solutions Architect at AWS, reiterated the importance of Generation UK and the cohort effect.
"For the first time I felt I had a community that actually cared. I felt invisible and I couldn't even apply for a job because my parents were having issues with their VISA and although I could remain as a minor, I didn't have the right to work. But Generation allowed me to do the course and I had a community. I will never forget how my mentor changed my life. She always reminded me that I had a space here and that I didn't need to shy away. She told me that eventually I'd get a job. And I did get a job and it was amazing!"
Another Generation graduate who mentioned that feeling of invisibility was Kawsar Rahim, a data analyst apprentice at University of Wolverhampton. Rahim has neurodiverse traits which gave him extra challenges when seeking an entry level tech role.
"I felt invisible to people. Every time I applied for jobs, I felt I was up against huge competition. The technical training allowed me to start applying for apprenticeships which is the route I wanted to get into. I found Multiverse through Generation which was literally life changing. I never visualised myself being in this position."
Zineb Leghnider, Full Stack Software Developer at EY said:
"Generation gave me the chance to prove myself and prove my interest in this field. What keeps me coming back is that it represents so many communities which are underrepresented in these roles. I don't see many people like me in software engineering. For me, the fact that 66% of the people coming through Generation are from ethnic minorities is so impressive and it makes me excited for the future of software engineering and tech as a whole.
"I'm really proud to be associated with Generation and happy to help people who come through that stream. I'm really grateful for my experience with Generation and I'm glad to be here to share that with everybody."
This article was updated on 15th October with the following comment:
After securing funding from DfE, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) commissioned Generation earlier this year to deliver digital Skills Bootcamps to those living and working in the city-region. The courses they provided covered Data Engineering, IT Support with Cyber Security and Data Analytics.
Following the completion of the contract and reflecting on the importance of Skills Bootcamps for social mobility, Greater Manchester's Lead for Technical Education and Skills, Councillor Eamonn O'Brien said:
" Skills Bootcamps are a great pathway to drive forward social mobility in our region, as well as equipping residents with the skills they need to thrive in today's dynamic job market. We have been at the forefront of this in Greater Manchester, supporting the first pilots of Skills Bootcamps in 2019, where Generation helped train the first cohorts of residents that landed jobs in the digital and tech sector.
"It has been fantastic to witness the growth and the positive impact these programmes have in changing people's lives as they've scaled across the country. We believe that by providing accessible training opportunities and empowering individuals to excel in their careers, we can drive social mobility, reduce inequalities, and create a prosperous future for all residents of Greater Manchester."
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