Education engagement and upskilling young people, whY-us? Marketing is proud to be part of the Lancashire Skills Pledge. In which we support young people in developing their skills and having the confidence to enter the workplace.
As members and supporters of the Lancashire Skills pledge initiative, and we’ve provided Apprenticeship, T-Level and Work Experience placements as well as Live Briefs and Presentations in the classrooms to students from Blackburn College, Burnley College, Shuttleworth College, Our Lady and St John High School and University of Central Lancashire.
As a business and employer, we have the opportunity to play a crucial role in bridging the gap between education and the professional world. Through education engagement, initiatives like offering work experience placements, industry workshops, and mentorship, we are proud of our role in empowering students to enter the workplace and explore the industry.
We understand the value of students gaining practical experience. It helps them to build confidence and career prospects. It gives our students the chance to understand if they would like to continue their education, enter the workplace or do both – with hybrid approaches like apprenticeships and T-Levels.
Education Engagement & Lancashire Skills Pledge Highlights 2024
Industry Visits & Live Brief Projects
Industry Visits & Live Brief Projects
- Business Ownership Presentation: Richard Singleton delivered a session to students exploring how we choose the services and product portfolios we offer, and sharing real-life challenges and successes.
- Live Brief Challenge: Engaged 30+ students in developing a product pricing structure and marketing strategy for our Branded Video software; offering hands-on industry experience and taking the students feedback and thoughts around pricing and use cases.
Workshops & Career Talks
- Richard’s Journey: Richard spoke to 50+ students about returning to education at 32, gaining qualifications, and founding whY-us? Marketing at 33, sharing lessons from 13 years of business ownership.
- Kelsey’s Career Workshop: Shared her career path from school, college, and apprenticeships to earning two degrees and building a career in marketing.
T-Level Support & Work Experience Placements
As part of our education engagement initiatives, each year we host a T-Level student from Blackburn College, as well as other school & college work experience placements. These placements offer students real-world experience in our office and marketing environment, helping them build essential skills while contributing to client projects. Some of our students and their tasks within the workplace included:
- Fabian: CRM software development, process mapping, workflow design, and website content uploads.
- Kevin: Website development for an electric car parts retailer.
- Damian: Data management, prospecting research and website content uploads.
- Isaac: Website development for a furniture manufacturer.
In addition to this, we also proudly supported a college’s Work Placement Team through a successful OFSTED inspection. We do a lot of engagement with the Blackburn College work placement team, so it was great to be involved.
The Government recently ranked Blackburn College as one of the best further education colleges in England. Blackburn College was ranked third place for the 2022/23 academic year for achievement rates for learners in all courses, including the T-Level programs which whY-us? are proud to support.
Employer & Business Engagement
- Presented to employers on the benefits of supporting T-Level students.
- Featured in a university promotional news piece video as an apprenticeship case study, highlighting both employer and learner perspectives.
- Delivered a presentation at the Landmark Building during National Apprenticeship Week 2024, promoting university degree apprenticeship programs.
Recognition & Success
We were also honoured to be named Employer of the Year 2024, a recognition highlighting our ongoing commitment to development and educational partnerships. This award was given based on our many commitments to education engagement from apprenticeships to T-Level placements to Industry visits.
We are incredibly proud of our achievements this year and look forward to continuing our work with young talent to support their growth and success in the marketing and wider business environment.
By investing in our young people and continuing our education engagement, we’re investing in the future—helping students gain skills, confidence, and career-ready experience. We look forward to expanding our CSR initiatives and creating even more impactful learning opportunities. Read our other news here.
