In Your Shoes - Ross Paterson

Ross is an Employer Liaison Advisor with the Developing the Young Workforce team for Dundee and Angus. Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) is a Scottish Government strategy which brings together employers, education and young people, helping employers meet their workforce needs, helps young people transition more easily into work and helps educators collaborate with employers.

DYW is based in the chamber offices and from there Ross and his colleagues go out to meet with businesses to ascertain their workforce needs and work with schools/college to facilitate and broker long term partnerships. Ross works in the Energy, Science, Food, Manufacturing, Construction and Land Based sectors.

Outside of work Ross enjoys spending time with his friends and family and as the office’s only Fifer, he has no shame in admitting that most weekends he can be found either back in Kirkcaldy or all over Scotland supporting his local football team Raith Rovers!

A day in the office - planning & presentations to be completed!

Another Monday in the DYW Team and things are very busy as usual! After the usual Monday morning tasks of working through my inbox and planning my weekly activity, I spent the majority of my day preparing a Workshop Session I was delivering for the Skills & Learning Festival at Brechin High School the following day. This annual event is targeted at all teachers and partner organisations in the Angus area, so a great opportunity for me to promote DYW’s aims and objectives. Attending and presenting at events is a large part of what our DYW Team does on a weekly basis, and tomorrow I will be presenting the workshop session with Lisa Tosh, Deputy Head Teacher at Websters High School and Lesley Watson from Angus Council. Really looking forward to it and I’m sure it will go well! 

Learning & Skills Event - A Positive Day

My colleague Rachel and I arrived at Brechin High bright and early to set up our DYW Information Stand as part of the Learning and Skills Event. There was a real energy in the building as people moved between the various workshops and learning sessions and the event was busy throughout the whole day. I delivered our workshop session as planned and was really pleased that it was received so well by the attending teachers and partners in the room! They had a lot of questions for us and were very engaged, and we were able to make some good links where we plan to work together in future. We finished off our day at Brechin High School with a meeting with the Deputy Head Teacher Ally Mills, to discuss how our DYW Team can support the school moving forward, which was really positive!

More employer connections made

After spending the morning in the office I had the opportunity to visit Murton Farm to meet with Alison Elliot, Manager of the Murton Trust. I had never been to the farm before and I was really impressed with the facilities and the work they do to support and improve the employability of young people in Angus. We discussed ways in which our DYW Team can support Murton Trust and we are looking forward to working with them in 2017.

Another Employer-School link is made!

I attended the first meeting between RR Spink of Arbroath and Arbroath Academy, who were keen to discuss linking the business with the local school and to find ways to work together that would be mutually beneficial. We were lucky enough to get a tour of the factory which was really interesting and we had no idea how complicated the food manufacturing process is! It was a real eye opener for me and for the teachers! The result of the meeting was extremely positive and there are already plans in place build a partnership and carry out some joint projects between Spinks and Arbroath Academy in the New Year, which is fantastic! I ended the day with our first meeting with Forfar Academy’s Deputy Head Teacher Graeme Wallace, where we discussed ways in which our team can support the school over the next few years.

End to a productive week!

I rounded off the week by attending another initial meeting between a local employer and a school, Montrose Port Authority and Montrose Academy. The Port is aiming to develop its current workforce as well as to introduce a new Apprenticeship Scheme for 2017, so building a partnership with the local school is a great way to offer future employment opportunities to young people. The meeting went extremely well and this promises to be a long term relationship where both parties can work together to benefit the local community.