Youth Workforce Dream Team

Luke trained as a nurse. He has worked for a sexual health service – giving advice and support to young people.

He has very good listening skills. He took a short course in management last year, but hasn’t yet had a chance to be in charge of a team.

Nicole works as an artist – running projects with young people. She is well organised and very creative.

Before she started running projects with young people, Nicole was the programme manager for an arts centre, where she was in charge of a budget of £100,000 a year.

Alexander has been a social worker for over 15 years. He started out working with young people in care, and now manages a large area-wide team of social workers. Two years ago he took a year-long course in being a good manager.

He has a laid back approach – which helps his team be creative, although sometimes they find this lets things get a bit chaotic.

Danielle trained as a youth worker when she was 18 – after being encouraged to go to University by the Youth Club she attended. Over 10 years later, Danielle is now the main worker at the club she used to go to as a young person.

Danielle manages a team of 2 part-time workers, and 5 volunteers who run youth club sessions every weekday evening.

Danielle is very patient, and has managed to keep the club running even though money is very tight.

Samuel trained as a play worker and worked for a childrens project for five years.

Because of his skills at listening to the views of children and young people he then worked as a participation worker at the local council. Here he managed a team of 5 part-time Young Advisors.

He is keen on ICT and tries to make use of interactive games, photos and videos in all his work.

Jessica left school at 16 because of difficulties in her family, and, after a while working in a shop, took at job as a teaching assistant. She took her A-Levels at an evening course, and then trained as a teacher because she wanted to help other young people with similar experiences to hers.

Jessica works in an extended school, and is now the Head of Year 8.

Charlie has been a Community Support Officer since the scheme started in his local area. Whilst he is not officially the manager of his 8 person team, he is always encouraging everyone to do their best, and is treated by his team members as if he was in charge.

Charlie has an excellent memory and likes numbers. He often tells stories about how he was ‘a bit of a tearaway’ and involved in drink and drugs when he was younger to try and encourage young people not to get involved in negative activities.

Freya is a police constable. She joined the police force after leaving University where she studied English Literature.

She recently took a course at the Police Leadership Academy.

Her skills in communication and negotiation have earned her the trust of many different community groups in her local area.

Jayden trained as an engineer on a modern apprenticeship and then set up his own business which has ten employees and makes over £1m a year because it has an innovative way of working. After 15 years he wants a change, and so is selling the company.

He would like to work in a management job where he can use his practical skills and good organising skills.

Kate was the area manager for a small chain of organic vegetarian fast food restaurants in the North of England – but the company recently went bust and she lost her job.

Kate is very energetic and loves working with people. She likes getting things done and creates very detailed plans for everyone to work from. She used to volunteer at a swimming club when her daughter was a member

Lyle runs a one-stop information and advice shop with a team of five advisors. Many other services use the shop to run sessions - mostly because Lyle is very good at networking and keeping in touch with people.

Lyle believes it is really important to listen to young people, but has found it difficult to keep the project’s Youth Board going as he doesn’t have any experience of participation work.

Rosa is a manager at the local council. She is in charge of nearly all the services for young people.

She studied management at University and took a ‘fast track’ training course to start working in local government.

She is excellent at managing complex projects and large budgets although sometimes she struggles to motivate staff during times of change.

Zuberi was an athlete in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was involved in local politics there, and fled to the UK as an asylum seeker.

In England he has been working at a youth club running sports activities. He also volunteers as a facilitator for a project called ‘Intercultural Leadership School’ which trains young people to be community leaders

Dionne is a youth support worker. She took an art foundation course five years ago, and in her spare time sings with a rock band.

Dionne has a great memory for names and faces, and is always listening and giving advice.

Dionne is also the supports worker for the youth forum at her local youth club.

Anil manages a brand new Youth Club in a small town in Rural England. He was responsible for raising £3m to get the centre built, and for recruiting all the staff who will run it.

The centre is based on an innovative design and uses lots of new technology. Anil got the centre built on time, but found the job very stressful.

Mohana volunteered as a mentor three years ago when her last child left home. She is now looking to take a full time job working with young people.

She has cared for her family of eight for over 25 years, and has always volunteered in the community.

Five years ago she worked with a group of friends to apply for £100,000 to start an activity club for elderly people from her area, and the project was successful. She is still a trustee of the project.

Arian has just graduated with a Masters (higher) degree in Youth and Community Work with Management Studies. He would like to start his first job as a manager.

Arian was involved in young enterprise at school, and has since been a young enterprise mentor for groups of young people. He is very good at making presentations and communicating with decision makers.

Hikmeta trained as a teacher, worked as a head of the Maths department, and then went on to become a schools inspector.

Hikmeta has a very good understanding of how government works – and is good at setting and measuring targets. She believes in making sure everything is of the highest quality.

Leon worked for the local council after leaving school at 18. He got involved with drugs, lost his job and ended up homeless when he was 26. Three years ago he went on a rehab programme.

Now Leon is retraining as a youth support worker. When he worked for the council he managed projects with up to 15 people involved – and he would like to be involved in big projects as a youth support worker.

Winni trained as an accountant. Five years ago she was elected onto the local council as a councillor– although she left after two years because of time pressures with a young family and a full time job.

She was inspired by her experience seeing what the council could do for young people – and would now like to manage projects for young people. She has a good sense of humour and is very open minded to new ideas.