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The founder of a new recruitment agency focusing on school-leavers explains how she helps employers not only to find the right hire but also makes sure young staff are ready for the workplace. Emily Moore reports
AS a “fiercely independent” young woman, Laura MacDonald knew that as soon as she had finished her A-levels, she wanted to “set foot in the big wide world and gain financial independence”.
But even though she knew that she wanted to eschew university in favour of entering the workplace, her route from classroom to office was not entirely straightforward.
“I was one of very few students in my year group to move into full-time employment rather than going into further education,” reflected Laura, who founded her mentoring and recruitment agency, Prosper, last year.
“At that time, teachers strongly encouraged students to go to university and there was little guidance or information about the professional opportunities available to 18-year-old school-leavers.”
And while the former Hautlieu student feels that in the 20 years since she sat her A-levels, there has been a “slight shift” in thinking around the next steps for school-leavers, she still argues that there are significant challenges for young people to navigate.
“I think there is a better understanding of the fact that employment may be a more beneficial route than university for some people,” she said. “However, the guidance and education around the roles that are available is still very much missing.”
That conviction was strengthened by her own career journey, which took her from the worlds of trust and banking into the legal sector and then into education, where she worked as an HR and business manager for a local secondary school.
“I loved my position as a legal secretary but I always had a niggling feeling that I wanted to work with young people,” said Laura. “As soon as I made the transition into education in 2020, it became apparent to me that the level of support available to help students navigate that transition from school to employment hadn’t really moved on very much from my own student days, particularly when it came to understanding opportunities and being workplace ready.”
It was a conviction, she says, which was only reinforced by her own experience as a mother of two teenagers and by news stories about “brain drain” and skills shortages in the Island.
“I’m Jersey-born and I love our Island but I’m very aware that we lose a lot of young people who go to university and then don’t return,” she explained. “It was a combination of the memories of my own student days, my insight into schools now and my experience as a mother which really highlighted the opportunity that exists to support schools, businesses and students by providing a service which bridges that gap and helps students into the workplace by matching them with companies which share their values as well as career aspirations.”
But that matching service, said Laura, is only one element of Prosper.
“While our ultimate purpose is to help and support young people to secure full-time permanent employment to encourage them to stay in the Island and help address that skills shortage, Prosper’s services extend beyond that,” she emphasised. “At the heart of our approach is education, mentorship and communication with both students and businesses.”
This, she stresses, is critical if a match is to be successful for both parties.
“From a business perspective, I need to understand what they are looking for in a young person,” she said. “This doesn’t relate to the technical skills required to complete a job because we are looking at entry-level roles for people who do not have prior experience in that area. Rather, we talk about the short-, medium- and long-term objectives that the business has for that person and the values they are looking for because it is really important that an individual’s values resonate with those of the company.”
And understanding each student’s values is just one element of the pre-employment mentorship programme which Laura delivers.
“Businesses need to be confident that the young people who I put forward for interview are workplace-ready,” she said. “Therefore, I do a lot of work around soft skills with each student, covering everything from workplace etiquette, time management and work attire to wellbeing, relationships in the workplace and areas such as the use of mobile phones and technology.
“To seasoned workers, these things may sound like common sense but to someone who has never stepped foot in an office before, these are things which can cause considerable anxiety or uncertainty. They are also things which can take a lot of time for a line manager to address, so if I can resolve these issues before they arise, that reduces the ‘burden’ a new recruit can place on the business.”
Also smoothing the way for businesses and students is the support which Laura provides when a job offer has been made.
“Once a student has been appointed, I continue to support both them and their employer for the first 12 months of their employment,” she said. “This gives the young person an opportunity to ask me any questions about situations they are trying to navigate but are not sure how to approach, and also enables the business to request support if there are any pastoral or emotional-support issues which they feel it would be helpful to address.”
Minimising the likelihood of such issues arising, says Laura, begins while the students are still at school.
“I work closely with our local secondary schools and colleges, and spend a lot of time in the schools, chatting to the students and introducing different businesses to them,” she explained. “While careers fairs and corporate-style presentations have a place, they do not always give students a real sense of what the business does and what the different job roles entail and how positions compare.
“In addition to my own presence, being able to bring someone from the business into the school to talk to a small group of people or taking a small group of students into a workplace is hugely valuable for giving them that insight.
“Many of the companies that I work with are very happy for me to take students into their workplaces for informal visits so that they can get a real feel for the environment, see what the office is like, what people are wearing and how they behave in the office. That experience is also hugely beneficial when it comes to the interview because a lot of the unknowns have been removed, which makes them more comfortable and able to present themselves in a more relaxed and open way.”
With 14 businesses already working with Prosper, Laura is keen to hear from other firms, particularly within the corporate and commercial sectors, who would be interested in recruiting school-leavers.
“Since launching the business in September, I have placed more than 30 students with local firms,” she said, “and I have other students who I am currently working with to find the right position. But that is why I would love to hear from more businesses, as the more opportunities we can open up for young people, and the more choice we can offer them, the more chance we have of finding meaningful employment for them which will lead to successful long-term appointments.”
Another factor underpinning that success, Laura says, is flexibility and the willingness to create roles to match a person’s skills.
“This is something which Jersey Post has really embraced,” she said. “Their approach has been incredible and so inspirational to me. By working together, I have identified students who I think would thrive in their environment, and they have created bespoke roles for those people. Instead of trying to fill particular vacancies, they have looked at each person’s strengths and recognised what they could contribute to the organisation, which has been so refreshing.
“I would love to see more businesses opening their minds to alternative ways of recruiting. So many firms have had unfilled roles for a long time and perhaps if they reshaped roles to recognise the assets that a young person could bring to their business, they would find a different way of increasing the talent within the company.
“I would also encourage businesses to offer programmes which enable students to spend their first year in three or four different departments, so that they get a real feel for the company and discover where their interests and skills are best matched.”
This approach, she contends, can also have wider-reaching economic benefits.
“A lot of the companies I’m working with had been trying to replace like for like when a vacancy arises,” she explained. “Because the students they have employed through Prosper have been so successful, companies have reorganised their teams, recruiting at a junior level and promoting people internally, which has enabled them to retain more senior members of staff while creating opportunities for new talent. This is a virtuous circle, giving businesses access to local, motivated talent, keeping skills in the Island and providing further career opportunities for existing staff.”
lAny businesses interested in working with Prosper are invited to contact Laura by emailing laura@prosper.je.
