Guaranteed to help young people in the Park

The Cairngorms National Park Authority has joined a host of other employers across Scotland to commit to the Young Person’s Guarantee, helping to create valuable job, training and volunteering opportunities.

The Young Person’s Guarantee was launched in 2020 and aims to give all young people aged 16-24 the chance of a job, an apprenticeship, further education or training and suitable volunteering positions.

The CNPA is now a fully signed up employer and in doing so, has made a commitment to create and support a variety of opportunities for young people who are trying to establish their careers.

Kate Christie, Head of Organisational Development at the CNPA explained: “As an organisation we have always been keen to help young people get into work and over the past few years we have followed through in that commitment with interns, foundation apprentices and work experience opportunities. Our close relationships with the Park’s high schools and the UHI means that this has been a successful approach for both us as the employer and the young person involved.

“However, signing up to the Young Person’s Guarantee means that we are committing to doing even more to help our young people by widening the availability of our opportunities and we will be doing this in partnership with Developing the Young Workforce Inverness.

“We hope to support at least two paid internships annually and work with Inclusion Scotland and the BAME community to recruit an intern from within these communities. We will be offering to accommodate a Foundation Apprenticeship, offering mentors to young people pursuing an environmental career and support work placements for young people on degree courses. We will also be offering the chance for more school pupils to take part in work experience here at the CNPA.”

CNPA Board Convener, Xander McDade commented: “I am absolutely delighted that the CNPA has signed up to the Young Person Guarantee. We think it is vitally important that our young people see our National Park as a place they can live and work and that they don’t have to leave the area to pursue career opportunities as has often happened in the past.

“The CNPA has a crucial role to play in that both as an employer within the Park and through our policies such as the Park Partnership Plan and Local Development Plan where we are encouraging more affordable housing. Young people are the future of the Cairngorms National Park and we will continue to work on policies that enhance their future opportunities with our public, private and third sector partners.”

The Young Person’s Guarantee asked employers to prepare people for the world of work, help them to achieve their potential, invest in a skilled workforce and create jobs, volunteering and training opportunities in an inclusive and fair workplace. In doing so, an organisation benefits by building a skilled workforce for the future and gaining new ideas and insights from a generationally diverse team. With recruitment being an expensive exercise, it can also prove cost effective for businesses and organisations to be part of the Young Person’s Guarantee with increased staff retention.

Youth Employment and Training Minister Jamie Hepburn said: “It is encouraging to see the range of opportunities being developed by the Cairngorms National Park Authority, especially for young people who need the greatest support. I would urge all employers to consider the benefits of supporting our young people through the Guarantee at this time.”

For more information on the Young Person’s Guarantee please go to www.youngpersonsguarantee.scot