“Being headquartered in Birmingham, we are committed to supporting the growth of fresh talent in the West Midlands. Working with Ahead Partnership gives us a chance to combat the skills gap by spreading awareness about the benefits of a career in tech and developing the employability skills of young people in our region through work experience. At Intercity, we have a defined ESG strategy focused on improving social mobility, diversity, and inclusion. Working with Ahead Partnership also allows us to tap into new audiences so we can offer equal opportunities to all.” - Christina Pendleton, Intercity

Contact us to support Growing Talent West Midlands

If you'd like to talk to us now about getting involved in Growing Talent West Midlands please complete the form below.

** SPONSORSHIP ** If your organisation would like to join some of the region's top employers and sponsor even more activities for young people as part of Growing Talent West Midlands over the next year then please contact us by completing the form above. Our sponsorship opportunities represent a unique and flexible opportunity to promote your organisation to the future talent pipeline and we can work with you to meet your wider corporate objectives too.

Growing Talent West Midlands

Growing Talent West Midlands responds to business concerns around talent, diversity and future workforce whilst ensuring that every young person can find a successful future, regardless of their background.

Growing Talent West Midlands builds long-term collaborations between businesses large and small, educationalists, community partners and the public sector around sectors that face a growing demand for workforce.

These sectors are then brought to life for young people by employers, working individually and together, through year round programmes of sustained and exciting employer-led activity in schools and colleges. The programme is crowd-funded and all organisation is done centrally to make it really easy to take part.

Workplaces and the skills that organisations need to sustain and grow their operations are changing at a rapid rate and employers are best placed to share this with young people.

Growing Talent is uncovering the power of collective action.

“Goldman Sachs are proud to support Growing Talent West Midlands in building a strong and diverse pipeline of talent in the West Midlands. Following our recent investment into Birmingham we want to ensure that our opportunities at Goldman Sachs are accessible to all young people in the region. Working with Ahead Partnership and in collaboration with other organisations that share this interest, we hope to use innovative, targeting activities to challenge young people’s perceptions about careers in digital and technology.” ” - Tom Morrissey, Goldman Sachs

Why get involved? 

Your involvement will help young people in a really practical way and help them to envision a more positive future. The programme allows businesses to play their part in creating a more equal and inclusive society, whilst reaching out to potential talent and the unique skills and perspectives that young people can bring to the sector.

All the activities in the programme are organised by Ahead Partnership with support and resources that help volunteers get involved, whether you are office or home based.

Which sectors are included in the Growing Talent West Midlands programme? 

The work in this programme is focused around the key growth sectors in the region. We are already developing and delivering activities with young people and employers in digital and business, professional and financial services. We are also starting work on designing activity focused on the green, health and care and built environment sectors too.

What sort of activities take place through the programme?

The activities we design and deliver together vary according the ages of the young people involved, though we can work with any employer on an idea that they may have to engage young people in understanding their sector.

At Key Stage 3 (11-13 years) this may include careers panels, sector insight days and inspirational speeches. At Key Stage 4 (14-15 years) the programme is more focused on specific job roles, skills and routes of entry through activities such as workplace visits, curriculum resources, speed networking, live briefs and podcasts. By Key Stage 5 (16-19 years) students interested in specific sectors are invited to attend work experience and insight days.

Growing Talent West Midlands works with young people over a number of years to improve their knowledge of a specific sector and harness and grow their passion through more targeted and specific experiences with the employers involved in the programme.

#GIRLTECHWM 2023 BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! Our next #GirlTechWM event will be held on Thursday 6 July 2023 in Leeds city centre. #GirlTechWM is our highly successful regional event for young women aged 12-14 years old in the West Midlands. #GirlTechWM is targeted at young women before they make their GCSE subject choices and provides them with the latest information and inspiration on careers in tech and digital. The event is designed to allow them to meet female role models from the sector as well as taking part in hands-on, interactive activities that show them what these jobs are really like. At our 2022 event 95% of the young people that attended felt it helped them to fully understand the skills needed to work in digital. If your organisation is interested in taking part in #GirlTechWM by getting involved in the speed networking activities on the day please get in touch using the form below NOW.

How can I get involved?

Please complete the form below to express your interest. We will get in touch to send you more information and discuss how your organisation would like to get involved.