Project Description

Industry: Employer Engagement
Format: 6-workshop carousel (around 20 minutes per workshop)
Theme: Practical ways to work with schools to attract stronger apprenticeship applicants
Partners: Career Ready; Fife Council (Employability Team & Modern Apprenticeships); SDS; DYW Workit/Pledge; employer partners including DPS Group, Optos, and Fife Council Building Services

Why this mattered
With more than 3,500 young people leaving school in summer 2026, employers who engage early are better placed to attract applicants who understand their organisation, their culture and the reality of the role. This event was relevant to employers because it focused on practical, time efficient ways to build visibility in schools, improve the quality of apprenticeship applications, and reduce recruitment churn by creating a clearer pathway from school to work.

What we delivered
The event was designed as a fast paced, practical workshop carousel so employers could take away actions they could implement immediately—such as planning a school engagement calendar, shaping meaningful work experience, and aligning recruitment messaging to what young people (and their influencers) need to know. Employers also heard directly from peers about what works, and left with clear next steps and contacts to build their pipeline.

Objective 1: Help employers understand how to work with schools to raise awareness of apprenticeship opportunities.

Objective 2: Share proven approaches from employers already seeing improved applicant quality and conversion.

Objective 3: Signpost partners, programmes and tools that make engagement easier (work experience, mentoring and employability support).

Objective 4: Enable new connections between employers and partners to support follow on activity.

Partner and employer contributions
DYW Workit / Work Experience platform: Kevin Campbell (Project Lead) introduced Workit and the employer resources designed to support meaningful work experience with minimal admin—making it easier to connect with schools and pupils.

DYW Ambassadors: Shared how they support DYW Coordinators, build pupils’ employability skills and promote the DYW Pledge (a menu of in-school and out-of-school activities employers can get involved in).

Fife Council Building Services: Neil MacGregor (Apprentice Manager) shared an increase in apprentices recruited directly from schools from 13% to 48% over the last three years since working with DYW Fife.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS): Kathryn Hill highlighted the support available to employers, including the Skills for Growth programme.

Career Ready & Optos: Claire Meikle and mentors from Optos shared their 18 month mentorship programme and generated leads on the day; the programme includes a 4 week paid internship for S5 pupils.

Fife College (Foundation Apprenticeships): Brenda Heenan and Denise Yates explained how pupils can gain a qualification equivalent to a Higher (e.g., Engineering) and how employers can attract Foundation Apprentices through work experience, site visits and classroom talks.

Fife Council Employability Team & Modern Apprenticeships: Outlined the business benefits of apprenticeships and shared award winning employability programmes, including Fife Job Contract (support with salaries for the first 13 weeks, subject to eligibility).

Outcomes and impact
Improved attraction: Employers increased understanding of how to build visibility in schools and communicate opportunities in a way that helps young people make informed choices.

Peer learning: Attendees heard directly from employers already seeing improved results (e.g., structured multi school engagement plans and stronger applicant quality).

Clear routes to support: Employers were signposted to practical tools and programmes (Workit, mentoring, Foundation Apprenticeships, Skills for Growth and employability support) to make engagement easier to deliver.

New connections and next steps: The event generated follow on conversations between employers and partners to explore school activity, work experience and apprenticeship pathways.

Feedback
Gabrielle Kirkwood (Fife Sports & Leisure Trust): “Fantastic event, thank you for putting it on. Super informative!”

Amy Scott (JBT Marel): “Very insightful, lots learned—thank you!”

Lori Raeside (Hillend Engineering): “Good informative event that gave contacts and plenty to consider.”

Peter Scott (DPS Group): “Walking between venues gave opportunity to meet different people.”

Colin Baxter (NextPharma): “Really worthwhile to engage with employers and hearing their success stories. Great to hear from the young apprentices too.”

Stevie Wilson (Score Group): “Great event—positive, engaging, informative.”

Interested in attracting stronger apprenticeship applicants?
DYW Fife can support your organisation to connect with schools, plan meaningful engagement and build a strong pipeline of future talent. To discuss employer engagement opportunities or future sessions, please get in touch.
Contact: Samantha Dick, Employer Engagement Officer (DYW Fife)
Email: samantha.dick@fife.gov.uk
Phone: 07423 155 601