Career LEAP Intervention Evaluation Report Available Now
A few years ago, I developed the Career LEAP training program together with Carmell O'Sullivan (Trinity College Dublin) and Jennifer Symonds (University College Dublin). The program aimed to support young adults without education and employment toward obtaining a job during their transition into working life. This has been such as special experience for me, and definitely one of the most meaningful in my career thus far. The participants were often quite insecure and sceptical at the start, yet all of them went through major growth during the program, and most of them also obtained a job. Really proud of this great cooperation and the wonderful program.
A report with our findings can be found HERE (and also available on this website on the Publications tab). A more detailed summary of the project is below.
An ambitious social justice programme designed to help unemployed young adults develop key psychosocial competencies for finding and sustaining employment during the school-to- work transition, Career LEAP (Local Employment Action Partnership) was developed by Carmel O’Sullivan, School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, and her research team, Jennifer Symonds, School of Education, University College Dublin (UCD) and Jos Akkermans, Department of Management and Organization, School of Business and Economics, VU Amsterdam. The study investigated the area of work-readiness among young unemployed adults (18-24) in the north east inner city of Dublin, many of whom were experiencing significant barriers to employment. Collaborating with East Wall Youth, Swan Youth Service, Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI), and a number of prominent businesses, Career LEAP emerged out of an innovative project between research, community and business partners, funded by the City of Dublin Education and Training Board (CDETB), the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) and a number of local businesses operating in the docklands area of Dublin city centre.