An economic review by the city’s chamber of commerce in 2018 attributed that the unemployment rate was due to a lack of requisites skills and qualification needed for employment in new and emerging sectors.

The Youth Employability and Skills Acquisition (Y.E.S.A) programme aims to bridge this gap by providing all the student union and career services of the city’s universities with curated videos on careers in diverse sectors. The programme will also facilitate job-shadowing opportunities and conduct career outreaches at hard to reach community centres.

Ensuring access to new and emerging job opportunities, the Y.E.S.A programme will:

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• Provide 2,000 youths in Greater Birmingham sector-specific mentoring, 


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• Facilitate 300 job placements and shadowing opportunities in key sectors 


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• Conduct career outreaches at the city's 5 Universities, select community centers and Further Education (FE) colleges.    


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Currently a living document, the Y.E.S.A programme will pilot three projects from 2021 through 2023, with the flexibility to accommodate cross-hub collaborations and new projects.

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  MIDLAND MENTOR: This project seeks to provide young people e-mentoring on career opportunities, demystifying new-age careers. Select industry experts will be recruited to curate industry-specific videos, clarifying their career journeys, successes, challenges, skills-sets and opportunities. Donated to Student Unions(SU) at the city's 5 Universities, the local authority's skills group and select partners. Therefore, providing young job seekers with a one-stop-shop on accessing different sectors. 
  


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  CONNECT BRUM: Collaborate with public and private sector organisations to create week-long job-shadowing opportunities for 300 young people aged 16-25. Allowing them practical experiences in line with their career goals. 
  


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  CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY CENTER DRIVE (CCD): As an inclusive measure, this project will conduct quarterly face-to-face career outreaches at universities, further education colleges and select community centers. The career outreaches will include "pop-up" help desks for CV reviews, mock interviews and other relevant support in partnerships with local and national organisations.