Ahead of Scottish Careers Week, Skills Development Scotland are celebrating a year of successful careers support after their Kilmarnock career services moved home.
In November 2023, the service relocated into arts venue CentreStage and the move has boosted support, employability and learning opportunities for locals.
As a result, the change has created stronger links with other services in the venue that has helped more people access and benefit from careers information, advice and guidance.
The former Kilmarnock Academy, CentreStage is an impressive and imposing historic building that has been renovated and modernised to provide a vital facility at the heart of the community.
A hive of activity, the venue hosts theatre productions and events, attracts creative, social and recreational groups, has a busy café and a shop.
Termed a ‘Neighbourhood’, the venue is home to around 20 different organisations including Barclays Bank, Little Art School, East Ayrshire Homeless Prevention, Powerful African Women and creative arts education enterprise, Maddison Green.
Skills Development Scotland (SDS) Team Leader for Kilmarnock, Vincent Logue said: “The move has been very positive. There is a strong community and a real buzz and happy vibe at CentreStage that our team and customers enjoy.”
The SDS team in CentreStage have now quickly forged close relationships with the other partners based in the ‘Neighbourhood’.
Vincent explained: “What has been so great about the move to CentreStage is that it has given our team access to a number of other practitioners we can offer support to, for example Health and Third sector organisations. This has led to an increase in customer referrals and partnership working.
“Being able to participate and engage with the other community groups and their users means the team is learning a lot about the best ways to approach and engage with people from all ages, background and abilities.
“On top of this, our customers know CentreStage and some are coming here anyway for other arts activities.”
A number of the area’s young people, like 16-year-old James Wyllie, have benefited from SDS being under the same roof as WorkingRite, which runs programmes giving young people work experience, provides good role models, builds their confidence and offers them an alternative to academic learning.
WorkingRite’s Project co-ordinator in East Ayrshire, Dougie Morrison regularly drops in to the SDS centre to ask the team to help his young clients, with careers advisers delivering CV and interview workshops to groups.
Dougie said: “We’re based in the training room above the SDS team, so it’s easy to nip in to see them, which is really beneficial for me and the young people we help.”
Former Robert Burns Academy pupil James was placed on WorkingRite’s Rite to Work programme, which partners with schools to support mainly 15-year-olds in S4 who are struggling. The young people are given the opportunity to look at options when they leave school and prepare for moving onto the main work placement programme, or decide to move on to further education or return to school.
Help on the programme covers personal development, communications skills, employability skills, building respect and dignity and preparing for a work placement or college.
As a school leaver, James had already met with local SDS careers adviser Nundita Reetoo for a one to one appointment to check in on his next steps.
Then, when Dougie organised for James, from Netherthird, to take an introduction to college course at Ayrshire College Kilmarnock campus, he dropped by the SDS centre to ask careers adviser Nundita to help James look at his options after the course ends.
Dougie explained: “The school guidance teacher referred James to us, who was anxious and apprehensive about the future. We placed him on the three-month work placement programme, which proved a challenge for a number of reasons.
“I then helped James on the Bridge to College course and nipped into the SDS centre to ask Nundita to meet with James again.”
Nundita continued: “Together, James and I have looked at careers ideas that interest him. We’ve talked about the types of jobs he’d like to do in the future and used the support tools on the My World of Work website.”
James said: “My course lets me try out lots of different courses that are available at the college, to see if there is one I would like to do when I finish Bridge to College, which ends in December.
“I’ve also been meeting with Nundita every fortnight to figure out what happens next; if I want to apply for another course or look into work.
“We went on to My World of Work so I could use the tools to understand more about myself and the types of jobs that could suit me. It showed me that I am creative, so I am thinking about careers where I could use my creative skills. I think it would be good to look into a job like a barista in a café.”
Amongst the range of other people that have been helped at CentreStage by SDS are two previous customers who got back in touch with the team specifically because the SDS career services were based at the venue.
Vincent said: “Both customers were attending classes in CentreStage and had been unsure of their career ideas. CentreStage staff brought them to the SDS centre and we were able to offer advice and guidance and continue to see these young people on an ongoing basis.”
The resources at CentreStage have also enabled the SDS team to hold joint events with partners.
Vincent said: “Having a separate room in CentreStage allows us to engage with groups of young people and invite partners to join us.
“We have delivered events during Scottish Apprenticeship Week and during summer and winter leaver times. Delivering them jointly with East Ayrshire’s Skills and Learning 33 (SL33) staff and learning providers offers a positive destination to anyone who attends.”
The team also regularly asks partners to meet with customers on a one-to-one basis along with their SDS adviser at the new base.
Vincent said: “Street League, SL33, Enable and Action for Children staff are always happy to meet with young people at SDS in CentreStage. This works well where groupwork is still a bit daunting and where young people may not attend a group session.”
CentreStage Founder and Chief of Engagement, Fiona McKenzie believes bringing career services into the venue is a major benefit for its facilities and the community overall. She said: “Having the team from Skills Development Scotland as part of the CentreStage Neighbourhood is such an asset to our entire community.
“We have always worked closely with SDS and greatly valued our relationship but being able to work so closely together takes everything to another level and is enabling so many more people to become aware of the services that both organisations provide.
“Now that Team SDS is so well established at CentreStage, we are all looking forward to shaping the journeys and unlocking the potential of so many more people across our community by being able to seamlessly introduce them to all the services and opportunities available to them across the entire campus. There is such exciting potential for truly innovative collaboration.”
Visit the team at the SDS careers centre at CentreStage at Elmbank Drive from Monday to Thursday 9am to 5pm, or call to speak to an adviser and book an appointment on 0800 917 8000.
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