Premier Inn hosted an inspiring community open day in partnership with education charity, Believe in Young People (BiYP), to support the employment of young people within Birmingham.

The open day is just one part of a wider national awareness campaign driven by BiYP; encouraging employers, local schools and community partners to join forces and prepare young people for future employment within the hospitality industry.

Mohammad Salman, Operations manager at Premier Inn Birmingham New Street commented: “We are delighted to be hosting today's event in Believe in Young People in Birmingham. BiYP are committed to offering young people the opportunity of moving from education into the work place. 

For many young people this is a big step to make but BiYP has established a number of commercial partnerships, including Whitbread and Premier Inn to help them make that move as smooth as possible. 
  
In the last six month, through our partnership with BiYP, we have created eight work placements at this site and visited five schools to inspire young people. We will stay in contact with everyone who has joined us today regarding the opportunities that are available to develop their career either within Premier Inn or the hospitality industry as a whole."

Thevent provided young people with the opportunity to experience the hotel industry first-hand, completing a number of fun activities including Mocktail Making and Spot-the-Difference Housekeeping Challenge. They also found out from BiYP about how best to pursue a career in hospitality as well as what work experience, apprenticeships and employment opportunities were currently available to them across the sector.

Tanja Kuveljic, CEO of BiYP, said: “Open days like this one in Birmingham New Street are an important part of BiYP’s employer-led programme, which includes career information, advice and guidance, school visits and workshops, work-related lessons and structured work experience placements. All of which help young people develop and progress into suitable future careers with industry-leading employers such as Premier Inn. Working with local school, college and employer partners, BiYP is helping all young people, including those who are at-risk from dropping out of education, training or employment, whilst also encouraging them to make informed career decisions. We are determined to make future youth unemployment a thing of the past.”

The BiYP / employer-led programme offers a real solution to youth unemployment and future talent pipelines. Last academic year, two-thirds of students who completed a structured work experience through the BiYP programme were marked as suitable future apprentices by BiYP employer partners.