Skills to Succeed Academy

Objective

To help young unemployed people in the UK build skills to choose the right career and to find and keep a job through online employability training.

Overview and Main Activities

As of October 2014, over 750,000 16–24 year olds were unemployed in the UK. The total cost of youth unemployment in the UK over the next decade is estimated at £28 billion (according to the ACEVO Commission on Youth Unemployment, February 2012). Those working to support young jobseekers are finding their resources are increasingly stretched, as demand for their services grows. The Skills to Succeed Academy addresses these challenges through an interactive online training programme that helps 15–24 year olds – particularly the hard to reach and those furthest from the job market – choose the right career fit and equips them with key employability skills to find and keep a job. Training focuses on teaching young people how to do things for themselves, building skills and confidence, and empowering them to take ownership of their own career development and job search.

The programme leads young people through the entire process of getting a job and helps them overcome a variety of common challenges and pitfalls along the way. It includes 35 modules of practical employability skills training using advanced technologies, including gaming techniques, simulations, telestrations, videos, quizzes and interactive exercises. Participants guide characters through scenarios and are actively involved in decision-based learning. With each decision, they receive instant feedback – both from the people they interact with in the training, and an online coach voiced by an experienced employability practitioner. Participants also have access to a mobile app, InterviewAce, which helps prepare for interviews and includes tips and checklists alongside example interview questions with editable answer templates.

Participants are invited to access the Skills to Succeed Academy for free through employment support programmes run by Accenture’s national Skills to Succeed delivery partners, including government departments, charities and national careers services. To date, over 15,000 young people have completed learning on the Skills to Succeed Academy, with 70% reporting that their skills had improved, and 75% that their confidence had improved.

This programme is a result of Accenture forming partnerships with employability subject matter experts from across the public, private and voluntary sectors; a leading-edge software specialist; a creative media agency; and young people themselves. Business partners include software specialist Assima and Replay, for content and technology. Government partners include the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and national careers services in England Scotland and Wales. Civil society partners include the East London Business Alliance (ELBA) and The Key. Accenture offers programme management, technology, learning and coaching to lead the creation of this training programme.

Success Factors and Challenges

Most critical success factors:

• Application of Accenture’s core programme management, technology and learning expertise
• Robust market research of the existing provisions in the welfare-to-work sector
• Close collaborative relationships with a number of organizations

Main challenges:

• Establishing and demonstrating value and relevance of new solutions to achieve buy-in from partners
• Preparatory work to ensure technology is available and able to support access to online training content
• Ongoing support and content updates to ensure technology keeps pace with increasing user base and is in line with software updates

Recommendations for Others

Working in partnership with the public sector can enable solutions to be embedded in key national employability support services, driving scale of reach. Establishing senior champions within partners is key to building greater visibility and programme buy-in to allow a solution to become a core part of partner offer. Investing in train-the-trainer programmes ensures quality of delivery of training programmes at scale. Developing robust feedback and reporting mechanisms helps measure success. Using e-learning as part of blended learning can increase effectiveness with young people. Finally, advisers and coaches ensure modules are tailored to the young person’s needs and to provide additional support.

Replicability and Scalability

How easily could other organizations implement this initiative?
Difficult: Upfront investment in behavioural learning required to effectively provide soft skills training is extensive.

How easily can this initiative be expanded to include a larger number of participants?
Easy: The learning is hosted on a learning management system in the cloud enabling expansion to reach the demand from young people.

About the Organization

Website: www.accenture.com
Sector: Professional Services
Size (number of employees): 100,000+
Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland

For Further Engagement

Contact name: Katie Avari
Contact position: Programme Manager at Accenture
Email: [email protected]