Accenture in the UK Helps 20,000 Young People Improve Employability Skills

From Accenture:

March 30, 2015

Accenture in the UK Helps 20,000 Young People Improve Employability Skills

LONDON; March 31, 2015 – Accenture’s Skills to Succeed Academy has equipped more than 20,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 in the United Kingdom (UK) with the skills to get a job. Launched in May 2013, the Academy is a free digital training program designed to build key employability skills and the confidence of young people throughout the UK. Training curricula, hosted in the cloud, is available in England, Scotland and Wales and was recently expanded to Northern Ireland.

The Academy is part of Accenture’s global corporate citizenship initiative, Skills to Succeed, which is equipping more than 3 million people around the world with the skills to get a job or build a business.

“The UK faces the difficult challenge of getting more young people into work. Accenture’s Skills to Succeed Academy plays a critical part in finding lasting solutions,” said Olly Benzecry, senior managing director, Accenture UK & Ireland. “By combining Accenture’s learning expertize with the latest interactive technologies, we are helping more young job seekers improve their chances of finding and keeping a job.”

The character-based learning program looks to change the motivation and behavior of job seekers through high-quality, interactive digital training, such as gamification, simulations, virtual coaches, a mobile app, videos and quizzes. The Academy helps young people understand the mechanics of pursuing a career while equipping them with the techniques they need to find long-term employment, including tailoring their CVs to job opportunities, practicing how to perform better in interviews and understanding what is required to stay in work. Young people access the training through employment support programmes run by Accenture’s national Skills to Succeed delivery partners, including Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the East London Business Alliance (ELBA) and The Key. Seventy-three percent of learners have confirmed that they have greater confidence when seeking employment as a result of the training.

“The Skills to Succeed Academy is opening the doors for thousands of young people, enabling them to get a job and secure their futures,” said Paul Williams, labor market operations director at the Department for Work and Pensions. “Our partnership with Accenture means we can continue to support more young people who have the talent and determination but have experienced difficulties finding employment because they lack the necessary skills and knowledge about how the job market works.”

Today’s announcement follows the news that Movement to Work, a voluntary initiative backed by the government, for which Accenture is a founding company, aims to create 100,000 high-quality vocational training and work experience placements for young people in the UK. Accenture has pledged to generate 100 vocational training placements each year. In 2014, more than 100 unemployed young people were offered a four-week placement, focused on enhancing digital and technology skills, and comprising employability training from the Academy. Nineteen of the people have subsequently been recruited into Accenture’s expanding UK Technology Apprenticeship program with another two joining as experienced hires. The Skills to Succeed Academy is embedded within Movement to Work placements run within Accenture and the Civil Service.

About Accenture 
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 323,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. Through its Skills to Succeed corporate citizenship initiative, Accenture is equipping more than 3 million people around the world with the skills to get a job or build a business. The company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
 

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