Football stadium hub helps young people score jobs

"I am so, so excited to start my new job, genuinely - I'm incredibly excited," said Jess McGhee.

The 18-year-old is one of 28 young people who have been helped to find work since October, when an employment hub opened at a League One football club stadium.

Peterborough United Foundation's Youth Employment Hub offers skills training, careers advice and job matching for people aged 16 to 24.

McGhee said: "You are so stuck on, 'I can't get a job, I can't get a job', you don't see the bigger picture and coming to the youth hub made me look deeper."

After finishing her A-levels, McGhee was keen to find work, but, "for a long time I was almost stumped, because I couldn't understand why I wasn't getting anywhere", she said.

Wider criticism that young people are not seeking employment made her situation feel worse.

She said they faced a whole host of different factors that some recent generations have not, such as having to live with their parents for longer due to the cost of living rises.

The hub helped McGhee see "there are opportunities absolutely everywhere, you just have to look for it".

"I owe them so much for my development and understanding of getting jobs - I think that these services need to be more accessible," she said.

Alicia Green, the hub's youth employability mentor, said: "We're helping them with things like CV writing, confidence building, identifying their transferable skills and interview preparation."

Youth employment hub manager Dean Watson said it had seen 394 young people so far, at a time when the UK's official youth unemployment figures are at their highest level in more than 12 years.

Word about the hub is spreading, with 250 young people contacting it since April.

"It's too easy to brandish this generation with one stick rather than look at every individual person... they do want a job, they're just stuck with what's their next step," he said.

His comments mirror those of former minister Alan Milburn, who challenged a characterisation that young people were "work-shy" in his recent review of job and career opportunities for young people.

Watson said some of those approaching the hub were applying for 10 or 15 jobs a week.

"But actually, sometimes it's just not that easy; sometimes they want the job, but need the mental health support, or they need the training, or the benefit advice, or the housing advice," he said.

Peterborough United Foundation's Youth Employment Hub is part of a £45m Youth Guarantee government scheme.

It is run as a partnership between Peterborough United Foundation, EFL in the Community (the charitable arm of the English Football League), Jobcentre Plus and the wider community.

"We're currently at 28 young people in full-time work," said Watson.

"I sent a lot of job applications, but I haven't heard back until weeks or months, and they rejected my application," said Silvio, who passed his level two gym instructor qualification with the hub's help.

"It didn't make me angry, but it did mess my mind up.

"I was lost and stuck... then, when I found the youth hub, now I know where to go."

Watson said 1,500 young people in Peterborough were not in education, training or employment (NEET), according to the latest official figures in January.

Until recently, they included William, 19, who said he applied for 104 jobs in two years and only two responded with an interview.

He did not use the hub but said securing a job had been transformative for him.

"I've got my own flat, I've got my own source of income, I'm happier, I feel much healthier.

"I feel like an actual adult, surviving on my own... it gives you confidence."

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