This week, we spoke to Jessica Sparks, Business Development Officer at Merseyside Community Training (MCT) to find out how taking on trainees has positively impacted their business and each young person’s career.  

MCT is an award-winning not-for-profit social enterprise that cares about the Liverpool City Region and is ambitious for its future; with the primary intent to help the most disadvantaged people from the Wirral area.

Since April 2022, MCT has taken on 3 Pavilion Training trainees and plans to take on a further 14 moving forward. Read our employer case study to find out more about the company’s traineeship success story.

What interested you about the traineeship programme/what were you looking to achieve with the trainee(s) you took on?

The traineeship programme stood out to MCT as a way to further help the local youth and allow them to experience/test out a career sector they want to explore. The placements give trainees key industry exposure in their desired career sector.

How have our trainees positively impacted your organisation and team? Do you have any examples of them contributing to your business?

Each one of our trainees have had a lasting impact with us, and we are pleased to say that all of them come back as volunteers whilst we support them in finding employment. Here are just a few examples of achievements that have stood out to us:

Deelan came to various business networking events with us where he built his own network. As a result, he has started recording a podcast for us here at MCT with his new connections. For example, Deelan met the Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside and the Vice-Chancellor of the Business School at Liverpool University and then invited both into the office and hosted them on our podcast.

Alex had a background in screenwriting; during his placement with us, he was able to build his network and write an article for MCT, which was published on the ZILLO website and is viewed by thousands of young people, click here to read.

Is there an area where you feel your organisation has made an extra effort to support a trainee and/or give them an opportunity to further their development/learning?

Here at MCT, there is a standard of effort that we put into each of our trainees, these include:

1. Introduction: On the first day, we get to know them as a person and see how best we can support them.
2. Each trainee gets a personalised timetable.
3. They get to shadow each member of staff, so they have the best understanding of how MCT is run and experience what it is like to work in a team with all different job roles.
4. After shadowing each member of staff, we give them the opportunity to choose which job role they would like to explore more.
5. To ensure the trainees aren’t overwhelmed and get the best experience out of their placement, we offer one-to-one support and a suitable workload based on their capabilities.
6. Each trainee becomes part of the MCT team; we invite them to workshops and always have an open-door policy for them to feel comfortable dropping in with any worries or concerns they may have.
7. Our support continues even after the placement has ended and the trainees know we are at the other end of the phone if they need any advice.

Our mission is to get as many unemployed youths as possible into not a ‘job’, but a career in which they are passionate about and want to stay in. That is why we have a standard that we deliver to each trainee, as we see the value in how a work placement can kick start their career.

How do you think a work placement helps young people jumpstart their careers?

A work placement can be the decider of if a young person wants to go into that career or not, but without the job commitment.

What advice would you give to an employer who is unsure about Traineeships?

Take on a trainee on placement if you can because you do not know how they can impact your business and how you can impact their careers/lives.