We recently spent a day with a group of young people taking part in employability programmes with Link Group, and it’s the kind of day that reminds you why community benefit shouldn’t just be a line on a spreadsheet.
The young people we met are part of Link Academy, which runs accredited employability and skills courses across Scotland. The programmes are built around practical, real-world learning: developing confidence, building CVs, practising interviews, and learning to work well with others, all leading to a recognised qualification. It’s about equipping people with skills for work, but just as much about helping them believe they can go and get it.
That’s exactly what our day together was about. We wanted to give the group a genuine taste of the industry, not a sanitised, watered-down version of it. So we pushed them a bit outside their comfort zone, gave them real tasks and real responsibility, and let them build a bit of confidence by doing rather than just watching.
Why this matters to us?
Every client partnership comes with expectations around community benefit, and it’s easy to let that become a numbers exercise: hours logged, workshops delivered, boxes ticked. We take a different view. For us, it’s about using our experience and connections to add something that actually makes a difference to the people involved, not just something that looks good on a report.
That means adapting what we do to who we’re working with. A group of young people building confidence for their first job needs something very different from, say, a school careers day or a community open day. So we shape the engagement around them: what they need, what will stretch them, and what will actually stick.
Thanks to Link Group and Link Academy
Days like this only happen because of the work Link Group and Link Academy put in behind the scenes, supporting young people to take that first step towards employment. We’re grateful for the chance to be part of it, and we’re looking forward to doing more.
