It’s been another monumental year for us here at Multiverse, and over the past year we have expanded operations across the country supporting many young people in Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle with opportunities to launch long-term digital and tech careers.
At Multiverse, we're committed to creating a diverse group of future leaders by building an outstanding alternative to university and corporate training. That’s why we’re committed to breaking down an old system – and building a better one. Last year sparked many conversations around diversity in the workplace. While this isn’t a new issue, employers are putting this at the top of their agendas to solve and outreach is an integral part of the solution.
Our Outreach at Multiverse consists of a small but mighty team of three, accompanied by the support of our many wonderful apprentice ambassadors who are dedicated to increasing awareness of apprenticeships as an alternative to university. Each year our Outreach team develops a strategy that sets a clear plan on how we are supporting under-resourced young people, by empowering them to access, thrive and succeed in an apprenticeship.
When recruiting apprentices to place with our clients, our dedicated outreach programmes like our Schools & Colleges Liaison Programme (SCLP) and our Tech Talent Accelerator (TTA) are ensuring that young people have equitable access to education and employment.
In 2021, we engaged with 12,597 young people, teachers, career leaders, parents and guardians and were invited to 86 engagements. We also supported 50 young people into highly sought after careers in software engineering through our TTA programme.
Schools and Colleges Liaison Programme
The SCLP aims to support teachers and advisors to inform and excite students about their futures through a career education programme that consists of: in-person and virtual events, for schools and colleges and resources for teachers and parents (all linked to the Gatsby Benchmarks)(opens new window).
The Coronavirus pandemic has presented many challenges for students, in particular having access to high-quality career education. Throughout the year, we have delivered some of our flagship programmes in new ways, including a fully virtual version of our well-established Teachers and Adviser training programme. which provides support on how to support students' apprenticeship intentions. We were able to support 284 teachers and career leaders across the country.
We have continued to adapt to the ever changing environment, our apprentice ambassadors have continued to increase awareness arounds apprenticeships through our ‘My Journey’ series, which are presentations that detail the process of transitioning from a student to an apprentice.
The series has continued to be a huge success, on reflecting at one of the presentation a student said:
‘’The session was very informative- helped me have an insight into apprenticeships and opportunities that are available with my grades’’
Career education plays an important role in supporting students in being informed about all options available to them. We’ll be expanding our resources to help schools and colleges across the country with more virtual resources.
If you would like to attend our resource launch session, to learn more pleasesign up here(opens new window)!
Supporting Young People In Our Communities
Social mobility is at the core of what we do and proactively outreach to the communities that we serve. We are ensuring that all young people have access to a chance to start a fulfilling long-term career through a Multiverse apprenticeship.
In order to ensure young people especially those who are under-resourced get these amazing opportunities we work with community-based organisations to support young people into apprenticeships.
We know that diversity can flourish only if the playing field is leveled, and that apprenticeships are a vehicle for social mobility that’s why in October we endorsed the social mobility commissions apprenticeship toolki(opens new window)t.
In the last year we have supported various organisation such as the East London Business Alliance, Social Mobility Commission, Jobcentre plus, Eastside Young Leaders’ Academy, Drive Forward, ROK, Just A Guy Foundation, EY Foundation, London boroughs of Lewisham, Hackney and Waltham Forest
Tech and Digital Inclusion
We’ve continued our long-standing partnerships with Generation UK(opens new window), to deliver the TTA programme , a free six-week tech bootcamp for young people who are not in employment or education, to pursue their passion for software engineering or data science and break into the tech industry.
For the first time we were able to extend the bootcamp to Leeds, supporting young people 100% of these candidates into full time employment or further education.
Graduates of this programme have now begun apprenticeships at the likes of AND Digital, Publicis, Chubb, UCL , Octopus Energy, Zone, Cognizant, Uniqodo, and Group M.
Over 50%(opens new window) of workers in the labour market as a whole are women, in tech, it’s half that, at 26%.This year we’ll continue to widen access for those who identify as women and other underrepresented and resourced groups within tech.
Power of Music and Mentoring: Apprentice Nation
The show went on with two Gigs and brand new training content releases from careers platform Apprentice Nation(opens new window), supported by BT and this year bringing on a new partner Lucozade. We even got to attend the first in-person gig in two years at Under the Bridge London, singing along to AJ Tracey, Mae Muller, and Ivorian Doll with hundreds of young people. Check out the highlights here(opens new window).
However, the importance of this platform goes beyond the performance, as we see a unique side to the artists as mentors, sharing advice around career planning and skills, building confidence, and wellbeing. This year Apprentice Nation reached over 9,000 young people, making kick starting their career accessible and fun with their favourite artists.
By getting involved, watching videos, attending live events, and meeting industry professionals, we’ve seen over 20 young people accelerate their journey into Multiverse apprenticeships this year, including Abdullah’s story.
Our Focuses for 2022
This year, we have even more ambitious goals to support young people. Our focus next year is to build new partnerships with community organisations and schools in Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds.
Furthermore, this year we’ll be continuing our agenda to make the tech industry a more equitable and viable career choice for all who identify as women.
In the wake of the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan, we are renewing our commitment to supporting refugees. This year we’ll be looking to support many refugees into long-term employment through apprenticeships. We’ll be working with missioned aligned partners such as Breaking Barriers to make this a reality and ensure that young refugees have access to the best careers available.
This increased activity means we’re growing the team and we’re delighted to welcome Naivasha Mwanji,(opens new window) our new Outreach and Partnership Manager who will further strengthen our relationships with our network of partners.
We have many more exciting outreach projects planned for this year, if you’d like to find out more or partner with us, contact Naivasha at Naivasha.Mwanji@multiverse.io
