City Building is the latest company to join forces with MCR Pathways to give young people of Glasgow the career opportunities they deserve.
The MCR Pathways programme, Young Glasgow Talent, gives young people a bridge to a future of opportunity and employment, whatever their background.
The programme, which is open to students aged 12-18 years old, currently runs throughout 10 secondary schools in Glasgow, and will eventually be rolled out to all secondary schools in the city. Pupils who participate can receive mentor support through a volunteer mentoring scheme which takes place in their school, or they can take part in Talent Tasters.
Talent Tasters offer pupils a hands-on experience of a real working environment, as well as inspiration and encouragement for their future.
Businesses, such as City Building, can sign up as an MCR Pathways partner. This enables them to offer Talent Taster experiences to young people and also encourage their own staff members to become volunteer mentors to a young person.
City Building, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, is currently training 324 apprentices across all construction trades. As the largest employer of apprentices in Scotland it provides a perfect platform for young people to gain some work experience across all disciplines of the industry from its training college in Glasgow.
The construction company recently delivered its first MCR Talent Taster with pupils from St Roch’s Secondary School, St Andrew’s Secondary and Drumchapel High School. During the three hour session, pupils learned basic joinery skills and built a window frame.
Cammy, 14, from St Roch’s Secondary School said: “This is brilliant. I’d like to become either a joiner or an electrician, I like working with my hands and I don’t want a desk job.”
Meanwhile Robbie, 14, from Drumchapel High School, who had finished two window frames, said: “I’ve been wanting to be a joiner since I was a wee boy and to get this opportunity to try it out is great.”
Darci, 14, Drumchapel High School said: “I’m interested in becoming a joiner. I really wanted to try this out to see what it’s like. My brother is a joiner. I’ve been speaking to him about it.”
Wendy Jordan, MCR Talent Taster Project Co-ordinator (on secondment from Wheatley Group), said: “A lot of children drop out of school by 16 with no real plan of what they are going to do, and they are unemployed within a year. MCR aim to either keep them in education or find an area of interest, build on confidence and give them the tools and skills to help put them on a career pathway.”
MCR works with all industries, from construction to medical and dental, hospitality, sales and retail and professional services. There’s been Talent Tasters for football coaching, working in art galleries, paralegal services and helping at the Dogs Trust. There are 40 Talent Tasters a year, with a total of 220 places, all tailored to young people’s interests. MCR use their resources to enlist companies who can provide Talent Tasters and help facilitate this.
At City Building there’s plenty to pique a young person’s interest, whether it’s construction, electrical, plumbing, joinery or painting and decorating.
Dr Graham Paterson, Executive Director at City Building, said: “As Scotland’s biggest employer of apprentices, we have a strong track record of supporting young people in the workplace. Partnering with MCR Pathways gives us the opportunity to extend our socially inclusive approach and give even more of Glasgow’s young people the chance to flourish by developing construction careers.
“A number of our staff have already volunteered to become mentors and are looking forward to getting involved. Most of them have been through apprenticeships themselves, and have a great set of life skills that they could pass on to a young person and help them find the right path.”
City Building directly employs 2,253 staff, nine out of 10 of whom live in Glasgow, and supports a total of 3,877 jobs across the city.
City Building’s people management practices are widely acclaimed, with the company recently winning a trio of awards including Diverse Social Enterprise of the Year, Public Sector Employer of the Year and a People Development Award.
Iain MacRitchie, CEO of MCR Pathways said, “I’m excited and delighted by this partnership with City Building. It has a huge impact on the Glasgow economy and displays a proven loyalty and commitment to communities. The company has excellent training facilities coupled with a wealth of expertise in the industry. This is an excellent opportunity for the young people we support.”
Are you a business who can help a young person realise their full potential? Or are you individual who is interested in becoming a mentor? MCR Pathways will provide training and support. For more information or to register, please go to www.youngglasgowtalent.org, email info@mcrpathways.org or call 0141 221 6642.
