Ascend with Together for Sheffield
Grow your business, transform the lives of young adults in Sheffield.
Would you like to grow your business, while also transforming the lives of young adults in Sheffield? If so, you are invited to join the Ascend programme – a service designed to help you meet your business goals, while also providing valuable opportunities to local young adults whose career paths have been disrupted by the pandemic.
“Being part of the TFS programme has literally changed my life”
Wilster – young adult participant
What is Ascend?
For the past 12 months, we have been working with over 30 employers across Sheffield, helping them grow their teams and achieve new goals while making a positive contribution to our city. Over 75% of the 68 young adults who completed our programme are now in full-time work and helping their employers succeed.
“We’ve already taken on two young people from the TFS programme, who are now responsible for whole departments: millions of pounds worth of equipment and people.”
Luke Burras, COO, Mobile Power
Ascend offers you:
A one-to-one consultation to help you identify some short-term business goals and define a new role for an Ascender to help you achieve them.
A number of Ascenders (defined by you) for a 2-week unpaid work placement.
The option to then hire the Ascender/s for up to six months, part-time (we recommend 15-32 hours per week) on minimum wage, while they also participate in fortnightly training, mentoring and ongoing support from Together for Sheffield to help them thrive in their role with your organization.
The opportunity to invest in a young adult near the beginning of their career journey.
Ascend offers young adults:
The opportunity for genuine work experience followed by the chance of a part-time job.
A dedicated mentor based in Sheffield.
Fortnightly training on all aspects of work, including soft skills and character development.
Employers from all faiths and none are welcome to apply: Together for Sheffield is a charity whose ethos is inspired by the life and works of Jesus of Nazareth, working for the wellbeing of everyone in Sheffield.
“The young adults on the scheme have really grown in confidence over their time with us. Several of them were fairly new to employment and hadn’t been given any particular responsibility in their roles before, but now, they’re a big part of the team. They interact well with people around them, and they’re an asset to the company.”
Ben Widdows, MD, Good with Devices
Kickstart Scheme
Together for Sheffield’s Ascend programme was successfully piloted in 2021 as a supplement to the government’s Kickstart Scheme, which aimed to help young adults at risk of long-term unemployment into work through 6-month paid work placements. Together for Sheffield enhanced this scheme by adding one-to-one mentoring and group employability skills training, which achieved a very high success rate at helping young adults access – and stay in – the workplace.
Here’s a video – created by one of the Kickstart participants – celebrating the achievements of the young adults on the scheme.
Josh Cutting – one of the lead trainers for Together for Sheffield’s employability programmes – introduces the Kickstart scheme and shares some of the highlights from the first group of participants.
On Wednesday 29 September Together for Sheffield celebrated the achievements of the first group of Kickstarters to have completed their training with us. Hosted by Blend Kitchen and sponsored by Good With Devices, Together for Sheffield brought together the Kickstarters, their trainers, employers and mentors, the DWP, and MP Miriam Cates, to celebrate what can be achieved when we all work together.
