1.
Working Knowledge is a social enterprise that exists to open the eyes of business to the young
talent available locally.
With Ofsted applying pressure on educators to better prepare young people for the workplace, it is
essential we also positively change the perception of business as to the benefits that a young
person can bring to them. Inspiring employers to create new career opportunities for young people.
We have 9 years of experience helping colleges engage relevant employers to co-design and co-
deliver the curriculum to maximise employment opportunities for their learners while evidencing
activity against the CIF.
Currently we partner with 17 colleges and 3 schools, have worked with 23,000
learners, 2,300 staff and 3,850 businesses to date, providing them with a range of partnership
services including delivering learner-employer programmes, staff training and strategic consultancy.
Ultimately building their capacity to deliver an education to young people that employers value and
actively recruit from.
This report sets out the impact our work has had during academic year 2014/15 on our key
stakeholders, alongside lessons learned and changes which we are implementing going forwards.
INTRODUCTION
I am extremely proud of what we have achieved this
year with the young people we represent. But of course
our achievements only occur through the dedication,
passion and creativity of the fantastic Working
Knowledge team.
Thank you!
Dr James Lott,
Managing Director

2. Our partner education
establishments
Academic Year 14/15
17
1
680
3,147
College
partners
University
partner
Total
Business
Volunteers
(BVs)
Total
students/
staff
433
Individual
student
opportunities
offered
3
110
3,690
67
Schools
partners
115
BVs who
offered
student
opportunities
Total
number of
events
Total
volunteer
hours
BVs who
attended
multiple
events

3. is a ‘dragon’s den’ style high-energy
entrepreneurial activity day. We engage a variety
of Business Volunteers, these are local employers
who work in industries relevant to the learners’ subject areas and career aspirations. Throughout
the day the learners and Business Volunteers interact and have workshops on promotion, finance
and operations culminating in a pitch to the volunteers. The learners then receive feedback from
the volunteers based on their performance and the volunteers are able to offer them further
opportunities if they wish, such as apprenticeships, work experience and even jobs. The key
outcome is positively changing the perception of business people as to what a young person could
do for them and the success of their business.
is an employer-led live brief
project that usually takes place
over three days. The Working
Knowledge engagement team collaborates with an employer relevant to the learners to write a
project brief. This could be around designing a new product, writing a marketing campaign or
developing a solution to a problem, sometimes the briefs are based on real projects the company
needs completed. The students then work on them before going in to the company to formally
and informally get advice on their initial approach. Finally they create and pitch to camera their
response to the brief, which is reviewed by the employers who give the learners an individual
employer reference for use on UCAS forms, job applications and CVs. The key outcome is to
highlight to the host employer, and others in the sector, the key skills and behaviours of young
people to make them attractive to employ.
At our Employer Aware and Employer Experience programmes we provide the learners with a
pre-event survey which they must complete. They then complete a post-event survey to show us
how they have progressed over the course of the programme. The feedback they provide allows
us to chart their progress against a 9 point employability skills framework which we have devised
based on CBI and UKCES surveys of employers on why they want to see in young people. At our
Employer Aware events we also provide the learners with a feedback form to complete at the end
of the day, this form allows them to directly feed back to Working Knowledge about their
experience of the day and provide us with a quote about the day to use for marketing purposes.
Student Services
Evidencing

4.
During our Employer Aware
events all Business Volunteers
complete a Volunteer pack, this
pack lets them assess and
provide feedback on the
learners they are working with.
It also provide us with feedback
on their experience.
Pre Post Change
Communications
and literacy:
89.1%
92.1% +3
Business
awareness:
59.9%
82.9%
+23
Teamworking:
89.2%
93.4%
+4.2
Problem
Solving:
87%
90.8%
+3.8
Pre Post Change
Communications
and literacy:
58.6%
67.3%
+8.7
Business
awareness:
59.5%
68.3%
+8.8
Teamworking:
78.7%
82.9%
+4.2
Problem
Solving:
84.1%
81.5%
-2.6
98.9% feel we help prepare young people for the
workplace
99.4% enjoyed helping the learners develop business skills
92.9% enjoyed utilising skills in a new environment
98.9% want to be kept informed about future volunteering
opportunities
100% would recommend the experience
All of the below stats are averages based on
413 students who completed the pre-event
survey and 101 who completed the post-event
survey.
Skills that they improved during Employer Experience:
All of the below stats are averages based on
2,430 students who completed the pre-event
survey and 650 who completed the post-event
survey.
85.3% feel more likely to get a job
91.6% would recommend the event to a
friend
Skills that they improved during Employer Aware:
Student feedback:
Business Volunteer feedback:

5. The Learning Futures programme, commissioned and funded by The Education and Training
Foundation, is a learning technologies programme. The project aims to upskill teachers and
students to develop strong professional networks using LinkedIn. The ultimate aim is to improve
students’ line of sight to work and their chances of securing meaningful careers.
By how much has your LinkedIn network
grown over the course of the programme?
More than 86 20%
26 - 45 20%
Less than 10 40%
It hasn’t grown at all 20%
As a result of the successes of the Learning Futures programme Abingdon and Witney College
and Aylesbury College are rolling it out college-wide from September 2015. Working
Knowledge are also developing a new programme based on this one called Personal Career
Networks. This programme will launch in September 2015 and be marketed to Colleges
nationwide for the academic year 15/16. We will be collecting data from the learners that take
part in this programme which will be included in future impact reports.
I think in education changes come in and
out because they’re important at the time, but
some things stay and they get embedded and
contextualised because you can see their value.
Employer engagement has become much
more embedded as a result of understanding
its meaning and value. The Learning Futures
programme has enabled it to be much more
integrated for everybody not just teaching
staff. I think when you actually embed
something fully into the culture of the college
it’s got to be teaching and support staff
recognising it’s importance, and everybody
talking about employer engagement.
- Paula Kavanagh, Curriculum Director at
Aylesbury College
Student feedback:

6. In order to make our Business Volunteer engagement process as efficient as possible Working
Knowledge is always on the lookout for new Corporate Strategic Partners. These partners
guarantee to provide Business Volunteers for all of our events nationwide, this partnerships not
only benefits Working Knowledge but also meets the Corporate Social Responsibility and
leadership development objectives of our partners. We surveyed our partners about their
experience partnering with Working Knowledge last academic year.
Statement
Rating (Average rating out of 5 where 5 =
strongly agree and 1 = strongly disagree)
2016
target
I feel our partnership with Working Knowledge is
beneficial to our company and staff
5 5
I feel our partnership with Working Knowledge is
helping young people achieve fulfilling careers
5 5
I am satisfied with the level of contact we have with
Working Knowledge
4.5 5
I enjoy collaborating with Working Knowledge 5 5
I am proud to partner with Working Knowledge 5 5
Corporate Strategic Partner Feedback:

7. 100%
98%
93%
100%
Would recommend the workshop
Developed a clearer understanding
of how to use LinkedIn as an
employer engagement tool
Feel more confident to meet with
employers face to face
Feel confident to deliver the
curriculum in a way that meets the
needs of employers
100%
Have a clearer understanding of
what work experience should look
like now and in the future
38%
Plan to form an employer skills
board to ensure the experience of
students remains relevant to
their career aspirations
is a 2 day staff development programme to
inspire and equip staff to engage relevant
employers to raise their commerciality and dramatically improve active links with employers.
Staff Services
Immerse opened my eyes to how willing business people are to get involved with the college. That
led to the creation of our new L4 Creative Business qualification as we felt we could get enough
employers willing to be involved to make it relevant, useful and different from just being a normal
course with the odd guest speaker, we could really have it as a major selling point that the course
involves employer-set project briefs, mock interviews and multiple employer-learner networking
opportunities.
- Jade Brown, Course Leader at Aylesbury College

8. 100% I have a clearer understanding of the challenges
colleges face when preparing young people for work
100% I have a clearer understanding of the challenges
colleges face when engaging with businesses
100% I have a clearer understanding of what work
experience should look like now and in the future
75% I have a clearer understanding of what work
experience should look like now and in the future
95% I plan to maintain my link with the college
100% Would you recommend todays workshop
I think in terms of cultural change stemming from Immerse there is a much greater understanding
of employer engagement and the managers almost feel like they have been given permission through
the project to work creatively and flexibly to be able to work with employers needs as opposed to
awarding body needs. There will always be the tension that we have to deliver the qualification as it’s
written and there’s a tendency in the sector to play very safe and follow things in a very mechanical
way. What arose from Immerse is a new understanding of what the awarding body wants while taking
into account how to make it work for the employers. There has been a much greater response for
doing live briefs, community briefs, employer-led briefs as opposed to playing safe and keeping it all in
the classroom.
- Fiona Morey, Vice Principal at Aylesbury College
Business Volunteer Feedback:
I already had some
understanding of the challenges
colleges and schools face
however, the Immerse
programme gave me a deeper
more specific insight.
- Paul Broadhead, Head of
Community Investment and
Education Outreach, Rolls Royce
I have always tried to
provide a rich and vibrant work
experience however, in the past
I have only worked with
graduates, I am now open to
working with younger talent and
would introduce a programme
applicable to their needs, ability
and experience.
- Carol Hay, Director or
Marketing UK and Europe,
Caribbean Tourism Organisation
The scope and complexity of the issue of supporting
transition from school / college into the world of work is truly
challenging. Our involvement as business volunteers on the
Staff Immerse programme today demonstrated the
professional ability of Working Knowledge to positively engage
all participants and create joint value while addressing the
challenges.
- Ian Sterritt, Managing Director, Martec

9. Throughout this academic year we have discovered from conversations with our College partners
as well as prospective ones, that there is a need for high-level management training to get them
‘on board’ and championing the embedding of employer engagement in their college curriculum.
This realisation has led to the creation of our consultancy package for which we are rolling out in
academic year 2015/16. This is a 1 day bespoke workshop with Dr James Lott and a Working
Knowledge facilitator which is designed to challenge, inform and advise whilst sharing examples
of best practice gained from our experiences with partner colleges. We believe this package will
allow us to make an impact on the Senior Management Team of a wider variety of colleges that
don’t have the budget for our other services.
What we have learned:

10. The Working Knowledge Sales Academy provides businesses with the sales stars of the future by
selecting and training ambitious young sales talent.
Our 9 years’ experience partnering with more than 3,100 businesses has shown us that many
employers are struggling from a lack of sales talent they need to grow their business. Our Sales
Academy meets this demand by selecting ambitious young people and providing them with
world-class sales training, 12 months 1:1 coaching and assessment.
Our partnerships with colleges and schools nationwide enable us to select and identify the best
young sales talent (aged 17-24) for our employer partners.
‘We know that many employers are struggling to find the young sales talent they need to grow
their business. We believe that providing world class sales training to young people is a great way
to reduce youth unemployment and provide employers with the sales stars of the future.’
James Lott, Managing Director Working Knowledge
From June 2014-July 2015 we ran a pilot year of Sales Apprenticeships in Sheffield and London.
2014/15 2016 target
Number of host businesses 6 26
Number of students started 32 79
Number of students completed 29 71
Number of students still working at the host company 24 64
Working Knowledge Academies
Pilot year data:
If anyone had said before that I would be
in sales I wouldn’t have believed them. The
course has been hard, but I’ve enjoyed being
here and it has really improved my confidence.
- Stephen, Sales Apprentice
I never liked school or 6th
form – I never
saw any value. I was drifting and I realised I
needed experience. This apprenticeship has
taught me a lot about myself. The course has
made me more comfortable about being
outside of my comfort zone.
- Josia, Sales Apprentice

11. Following the pilot year we have decided to focus on fewer geographical areas to allow us to
firmly establish the academy and streamline our processes before expanding. We have chosen to
focus on London and Bristol. In academic year 2015/16 we have 6 planned Academies, 3 focused
on Sales based in Bristol and 2 focused on Customer Services and Facilities Management in
partnership with Mitie which will be based in London with the potential for another Academy in
another location.
Data about these Academies including their impact on the apprentices and employers will be
included in our next report.
What we have learned:
I’ve learned more about being confident in
myself. Having the tutors and coaches there to
reassure and support me has helped me grow.
- Amy, Sales Apprentice
This has been a real challenge, in a
positive way. I’ve learned to have more
confidence in myself and have more resilience.
- Jack, Sales Apprentice
The confidence, tenacity and self-motivation of the sales apprentices is inspiring, they have
grabbed this opportunity and are achieving very challenging targets.
- Carol Derbyshire, Head of Learning & Developments, Johnston Press
Our Apprentice is an asset to the team, hardworking and motivated. They came into the
business ready to hit the ground running.
- Darryl Hazeldine, Property Manager, Local World
It’s been a real two way process that has brought massive benefits to our business in the way
that we manage and recruit new talent. The apprentices have the ability to go head to head with
any of our other salespeople and they could go to any company and carve out hugely successful
careers for themselves.
- Martin Hitchcock, Account Director, Johnston Press

12. To ensure all our events run smoothly Working Knowledge has a group of dedicated associate
facilitators who help run our events nationwide. All are respected business people in their fields
and many run their own companies.
Like any company we would be nothing without our trusted Suppliers. Below is how they feel
about their collaboration with Working Knowledge.
Statement Rating (Average rating out of 5 where 5 =
strongly agree and 1 = strongly disagree)
2016 target
I enjoy working with Working Knowledge 4.9 5
I feel Working Knowledge is helping young people
achieve fulfilling careers via student services /
Working Knowledge Academies or staff training
4.89
5
Working Knowledge pays invoices promptly 4 5
I am happy with my level of involvement with
Working Knowledge
4 5
I am passionate about the work Working
Knowledge does
4.78 5
Statement Rating (Average rating out of 5 where 5 =
strongly agree and 1 = strongly disagree)
2016
target
Working Knowledge are prompt payers 4.33 5
Working Knowledge are easy to communicate with 4.7 5
My overall experience working with Working
Knowledge has been positive
5 5
Other
Working Knowledge Facilitators Feedback:
Working Knowledge Suppliers Feedback:

13. The Working Knowledge team are a professional, hard-working but fun-loving bunch. As a social
enterprise we passionately believe in our mission to raise the aspirations, confidence and
employability skills of young people whilst opening the eyes of employers to the value young
people can bring to their business. Therefore, it is important to measure how passionately we
believe this as individuals. Below are the results of this year’s anonymous staff survey.
Statement Rating (Average rating out of 5 where 5 =
strongly agree and 1 = strongly disagree)
2016
target
Working Knowledge makes me feel valued 4.2 5
I enjoy working for Working Knowledge 4.5 5
I feel Working Knowledge is helping young
people achieve fulfilling careers
4.6 5
I feel my role within Working Knowledge is
making a difference to young people
4.2 5
I feel proud to work for Working Knowledge 4.6 5
Working Knowledge Staff Feedback:

14. 5 Academies for 79 young people and circa 26 host businesses
20 college partners and 3 school partners
Student programmes with 8 colleges and 3 schools
Teaching staff training programmes with 18 colleges and 3 schools
Senior Management Team training programmes with 13 colleges and 3 schools
Improve all employee, supplier and facilitator survey responses.
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This year we have been challenged by the impact of the election, which led to continued
uncertainty related to funding within the 16-19 year old education sector. For example the 25%
reduction in the Adult Skills Budget created an average £2million reduction in funding for
colleges.
This has resulted in dramatic changes with Working Knowledge.
1) We now work less with students directly but train the trainer / teacher to engage employers
and involve them in curriculum design and delivery. This has then developed into Whole
College Strategic Consultancy and programmes of whole college culture change.
2) There had been a huge focus on funding of apprenticeships so therefore we have had to learn
and hire skills in this area to develop our own apprenticeship provision focussed in areas of
sales and customer service.
Academic Year 2015/16 will continue to be a challenging trading environment for Working
Knowledge despite our expertise being highly sought after by the sector. However, we look ahead
with confidence that we are making a genuine difference to young people, educators and
business for the benefit of all.
Conclusion
Targets:
Looking to the future: