Talent Match was an innovative employment programme that boosted the opportunities of nearly 26,000 young people aged 18-24 who needed extra support to help them along the path to sustainable employment, of these, 46% secured a job.
As well as helping young people to find work, the programme provided individual with the skills and resilience needed to navigate a fulfilling career.
Talent Match recognised that different people needed different levels of support to gain employment. The programme had a particular focus on helping young people who had been long term unemployed and faced significant and multiple barriers to employment, such as parenting or caring responsibilities, mental health, disability or a lack of education, to find career opportunities
The Talent Match Partnerships worked with individuals to tailor support according to their needs and aspirations, which included wellbeing and mental health support, as well as practical help.
Partnerships
Talent Match took place in 21 Local Enterprise Partnership areas across England. Talent Match partnerships operated in some of all of each area, concentrating on localities with higher youth unemployment and where there were significant opportunities to add value.
Each delivery partnership was led by a voluntary or community led organisation, but brought together young people, employers, statutory agencies, education providers and charities.
People in the Lead
Talent Match was initiated by, co-designed and delivered with young people. Learning from the programme was shared at a national and international level throughout the lifetime of the programme, as our partnerships and young people sought to contribute to policy and practice.
Young people sat as equal partners on decision-making boards at local partnerships and were involved in all aspects of the programme, from design to implementation, including selection of staff and providers, and carrying out research and evaluations of services.