Working with Tees Maritime Cluster to understand young people's pathways into employment

Members of the Tees Maritime Youth Board

Over the past year, The Insight to Impact Collective has worked alongside the Tees Maritime Cluster on a youth-led project exploring how employers can better attract, recruit and retain young people.

The Tees Maritime Cluster is an industry-led network representing the Tees Valley maritime sector and its wider supply chain. Bringing together 93 member organisations across 15 sectors, it works to strengthen collaboration across the industry, support skills development and promote opportunity within the maritime sector. While supporting the long-term growth of the region's maritime economy.

As part of that commitment, Tees Maritime brought together young people from across the North East, the project explored young people's experiences of attraction, recruitment and retention, while developing practical recommendations that could support employers and inform wider conversations around skills and employment.

Why this work mattered

The Tees Maritime Cluster brings together businesses from across the Tees Valley maritime sector, working to strengthen collaboration, support skills development and help create opportunities for future growth. As employers across the sector continue to invest and expand, many are also facing a common challenge: attracting, recruiting and retaining the workforce they need.

At the same time, many young people describe the journey into employment as difficult to navigate. In parts of Teesside, around one in five young people are not in education, employment or training. Meanwhile, 75% of employers report struggling to recruit the people they need, yet only 27% of those vacancies are linked to skills shortages. Those figures suggest there is more to understand than skills alone.

How opportunities are presented, how recruitment is experienced and how young people connect with employers all play an important role.

Recognising this, the Tees Maritime Cluster commissioned a Youth Board in partnership with The Insight to Impact Collective to explore young people's experiences of attraction, recruitment and retention. Developing practical recommendations that could help employers and inform wider conversations around skills and employment.

Four Tees Maritime Youth Board members on the River Tees

Exploring the sector

Alongside the workshop programme, some members of the Youth Board took part in additional opportunities to learn more about the maritime sector. A small number attended the Coastal Powerhouse Summit, while others joined a boat trip on the River Tees, where they heard more about the businesses operating across the river and the range of careers available within the sector.

These activities helped provide additional context for some of the discussions throughout the project, alongside the experiences and perspectives that young people brought from their own education, training and employment journeys.

Exploring the journey into work

The main focus of the project was to explore young people's experiences of attraction, recruitment and retention, while identifying practical solutions and what employers could do differently.

Across a series of workshops, the Youth Board explored different stages of that journey, including careers fairs, employer attraction, job adverts, applications, interviews, onboarding and retention. They discussed their own experiences, identified what made each stage easier or more challenging, and considered what employers could do differently.

The group looked at how opportunities are presented to young people, the information employers provide during recruitment, and whether recruitment processes give applicants a fair opportunity to demonstrate their skills and potential. They also discussed the support young people need once they enter employment and how employers can create positive first experiences that encourage people to stay and develop their careers.

These discussions informed a youth-led Charter for Change, bringing together practical recommendations for employers across attraction, recruitment and retention.

Tees Maritime Youth Board sharing their experiences and project findings at an employer roundtable

Bringing employers into the conversation

An important part of the project was ensuring these recommendations could be discussed directly with employers.

The Youth Board hosted an employer roundtable, bringing together businesses from across the maritime sector alongside representatives from Tees Valley Combined Authority, the North East Chamber of Commerce and the Careers & Enterprise Company.

The session gave young people the opportunity to present their recommendations, discuss their experiences and hear directly from employers about the opportunities and challenges they face when recruiting and retaining young people. The discussion helped refine the recommendations before they were shared more widely.

Sharing recommendations in Parliament

The final stage of the project saw members of the Youth Board travel to Westminster to share their work with parliamentarians and policy makers.

Meeting with Jonathan Brash MP and Catherine McKinnell MP, Co-Chair of the APPG for Youth Employment, they presented the recommendations developed throughout the project and discussed their own experiences of moving towards employment.

The visit provided an opportunity for young people to contribute directly to conversations about employment, skills and the future workforce, ensuring that their experiences formed part of wider discussions around policy and practice.

Reflections from the Youth Board

As the project came to a close, we asked Youth Board members to reflect on their experience of taking part.

The feedback was consistently positive.

• 100% said they felt their ideas and opinions had been listened to.

• 100% said they had developed new skills, confidence or knowledge.

• 100% said they would recommend the Youth Board to other young people.

• 100% agreed it is important that young people's voices from the Tees Valley are heard in Parliament.

Beyond the survey results, young people spoke about the difference the programme had made to them personally. They described increased confidence, new opportunities and a stronger belief that they could influence decisions affecting their future.

One participant reflected:

"It has opened so many doors for me and helped me realise my own potential."

Another said:

"It has given me confidence, life skills, new opportunities, and the belief that young people can make a real difference."

When asked what they would like to see next, young people spoke about the importance of more opportunities to experience industry first-hand, stronger links with employers and role models, clearer pathways into education and employment, and ongoing feedback showing how their ideas are being used.

Looking ahead

This project would not have been possible without Tees Maritime Cluster and its commitment to creating meaningful opportunities for young people to shape the future of the sector. We're grateful to every Youth Board member, employer and partner organisation who contributed their time, expertise and experiences throughout the programme.

Projects like this demonstrate the value of bringing together industry, young people and decision-makers to explore shared challenges and develop practical recommendations. We look forward to seeing the conversations started through this work continue across the maritime sector and beyond.