New employability scheme to help 18-30 year olds get into retail

St David’s Cardiff has partnered with youth charity The Prince’s Trust Cymru to offer unemployed young people the chance to undertake work experience and training in Wales’ largest shopping destination.

[aoa id=”1″]The Get into Retail programme will give the 18-30 year olds taking part the insight and knowledge to kick start careers in retail. Taking place over two weeks, training across the industry will include customer service skills, merchandising, and workshops that will cover mock interviews and CV writing. Following the programme, all of the young people will be supported to help them move into work or further training.[/aoa]

As well as having an exclusive behind the scenes look into the daily running of one of the UK’s Top 10 shopping centres, retailers including John Lewis, Debenhams, Game and River Island will be welcoming members of the group in-store for invaluable training on running a busy city centre store.

Steven Madeley, General Manager for St David’s Cardiff, commented:

“The Get into initiative gives us a fantastic opportunity to coach young people who are unemployed into getting the vital skills needed to start on the retail career ladder. The Prince’s Trust Cymru do fantastic work with young adults in communities up and down the country and we’re thrilled to be a part of it.”

Ian Thomas, Programme Manager at The Prince’s Trust Cymru, added:

“We are delighted to partner up once again with St. David’s Cardiff to provide retail opportunities to young people in the heart of the city centre. We hope that this programme can continue to support our mission to give every young person the opportunity to live, learn and earn.”

The Prince’s Trust Cymru has helped over 3500 young people to transform their lives in the past year.  Many of the young people supported by The Trust have faced difficult challenges including homelessness and mental health issues. Three out of four young people supported by The Trust move into work, education or training within three months of completing a course.

The programme is part of a UK-wide partnership between Landsecities and The Prince’s Trust. Landsec is also a supporter of Retail Matters Week, a campaign that provides a spotlight for the industry, by celebrating and showcasing the great talents of those who work in the sector.