Network Young launches to address careers advice gap

AN ENTERPRISING 18-year-old is launched an initiative to help address the gap in careers advice in schools.

Duncan McCombe from Bramhall near Stockport has set up Network Young, a charity aiming to help employers reach out to schoolchildren and explain about the realities of life in work and the options available to them.

It will also introduce to pupils in years 10 and 11 (aged between 14 to 16) the importance of building networks, even at a young age.

The idea for Network Young came from Duncan’s own experience when he was at school.

He said: “During my final year at college I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do next, the advice I received didn’t help and I still didn’t know whether I was going to apply to university the day applications were due.”

Network Young will arrange weekly sessions in-school where business people go and talk about their careers and the opportunities available.  Duncan, whose father Stewart is a former banker now working for Enterprise Ventures, is hoping to trial Network Young at his former school Bramhall High.

Alongside the new enterprise he will continue to raise money for the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, having been successfully treated for a brain tumour when he was 13.

To find out more about Network Young as it develops, or to engage with Duncan directly, he can be reached via Twitter at @Network_Young