Week Gen-C - Career inspiration for pandemic-hit youth

by Startacus Admin

Week Gen-C is a part-employability, part-career and part-entrepreneurship focused digital event that's been created by young people, for young people in the NW of NI

The pandemic has affected us all but young people have been particularly hard hit by the impact it has had on both their education and employment prospects.

In a bid to mitigate this, two North-West NI based organisations, Enterprise North West and Startacus have come together with a group of students from NWRC to create Week Gen-C, a part-employability, part-career and part-entrepreneurship focused digital event. 

Week Gen-C aims to inform local young people and indeed anyone whose career has been affected by the global pandemic about the skills and tools they will need within this new economy as well as to inspire them about the range of opportunities that can and do exist.

The event features a series of panel discussions and interviews with leading employers including Learning Pool, Alchemy Technology and FinTru, local businesses Hypixel Studios, UV Arts, Storefront, Ferry Clever as well as support organisations including Young Enterprise NI, Extern, NWRC Careers Academy, Derry Credit Union, Careers & Employment Services and AWARE.

The panels and interviews cover a range of topics including employability, career pathways, upskilling and entrepreneurship as well as personal and soft-skills development, finance and mental health.

In addition to being involved on the Week Gen-C steering committee and planning the event’s content and format, the NWRC students have also been actively involved with the delivery including the filming, recording and hosting of the various panels and interview sessions. 

The event takes place virtually between Monday 10th May - Friday 14th May and will be broadcast / streamed on YouTube and other social media channels! Please subscribe via the new Week Gen C YouTube channel and you'll be notified as soon as new content is going live!

The Week Gen-C recordings will also be available afterwards to ensure that more young people can access and benefit from the content whilst also maximising the event’s impact and legacy.

Alastair Cameron, Co-founder of Startacus commented: 

“We’ve all been affected by the pandemic, but it has been even more challenging for our young people so it’s vital that we all do our bit to help them to look forward and to inspire and encourage them to reach their true potential. We’ve been delighted to partner with Enterprise North West on the Week Gen-C project and we have been hugely impressed by the creativity, commitment and dedication shown by the students from NWRC in bringing the entire project to fruition”.

Brian O’Neill, Director of Development and Enterprise, Enterprise North West, added: 

“The overall Week Gen-C event has exceeded our expectations and this has been mainly achieved through the hard work and creativity of the steering group of young people involved in the series of events right from the beginning. These events have been designed, produced and delivered by young people and have taken into account the negative impact of Covid-19 and the pandemic on young people’s prospects. We firmly believe that these series of events could be upscaled or replicated across NI to inspire other young people”

The Week Gen-C project is funded through the David Cross Young People's Fund, a partnership between the Community Foundation, the Department for Communities and the David Cross Foundation.

 

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• #event
• #students
• #pandemic
• #employability
• #entrepreneurship
• #careers
• #inspiration

Published on: 7th May 2021