Businesses in Tayside and Fife are being invited to support a scheme which aims to provide 100 young people with real life work opportunities.
The Hand Picked 100 initiative from Fife-based CR Smith is an employer-led programme which aims to tackle the intransigent problem of youth unemployment.
The scheme is aimed at young people between the ages of 16 and 24 and provides individual candidates with a 90-day paid job, with the employer also providing associated support and mentoring.
The scheme is designed to give the young person a taste of a real life workplace, increase their skills base and boost their long-term career chances.
Hand Picked is the brainchild of CR Smith executive chairman Gerard Eadie and a number of companies including Taylor Wimpey, FES and timber merchant James Donaldson & Sons have already signed up.
“Our aim is to find jobs for 100 young people and we are calling on employers in businesses of all sizes to join the campaign and become a life-changer,” Mr Eadie said.
“I am asking 100 employers to give one young person a 90-day paid job so that they learn the expectations of the workplace and take that experience onto their next job interview.
“That is how businesses can invest in everyone’s future.”
The programme has received the endorsement of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and also has backing from the education sector, employment agencies and the third sector.
Lochgelly High School’s Adam Jackson said: “Hand Picked covers a number of key areas including those that are beyond our capability as a school, areas such as; awareness of your digital footprint, workplace etiquette, creating a brand and practical experience of the workplace.”