Your bright future begins now

After years of volunteering in various roles supporting and mentoring young people, schools and other organisations focused on youth development, we realised that access to comprehensive guidance on the opportunities and options available to young people after secondary school is almost like a post code lottery. 

A good number of our young people in the UK, especially in the less affluent towns and cities (and across the world), are unable to access good quality careers guidance that actually helps them decide what is best for them (and not what other people think they should do). Communities and family backgrounds also play a part, as does how good your secondary school’s careers service is, and what your teachers are also exposed to. 

So what did we do?

We put a lot of effort into talking to students and young people in the 12-21 age bracket; secondary school students, those taking apprenticeships, undergraduates, as well as those that opted to go straight into work. We wanted to understand their experiences and learn from them, so we could help others. We also partnered with a number of schools to test our resources and ensure that what we were putting together really made a positive difference to young people’s futures. 

What is the goal of AfterSchool Careers ?

Our aim and aspiration for AfterSchool careers is that it helps young people by providing them with objective, supportive and clear guidance and information that empowers them to make wise decisions about their future. This future might be a formal career through undergraduate studies or apprenticeship, a vocational career, or could involve gaining the right skills to start their own small business. What is most important is that those options are made clear to them as well as what they entail.

Who is AfterSchool Careers For?

AfterSchool Careers focuses on young people aged 12 to 21. We want to focus on this group first for now because we believe it is important to start talking to young people early on about the world of opportunities waiting for them and to encourage them to aspire to those opportunities. Having access to this information early on mean students make the right subject choices as they prepare for their GCSEs, or make decisions regarding whether to go to college, pursue A/Levels, attend university, or take a gap year. Making the wrong choice at any of these milestone years can create long-lasting challenges, and even impose unintended financial and social limitations on a young person’s life.

What makes us unique?

What is different about AfterSchool Careers is our strong focus on inclusiveness and empowering young people by broadening their access to vital careers and personal development information. The resources and information we provide do not prioritise one path over others or try to impose a choice on young people. We believe the best decisions are those that are owned by the individual, but we also recognise that not having the right inputs can sometimes result in the wrong decision, so we are helping to close that gap by pulling together several disparate resources in a coherent, structured and friendly manner.