Great opportunities for graduates to do good
Graduate Career Advantage Scotland (GCAS) is an initiative, funded by the Scottish Government, which aims to break down barriers by supporting employers of all sectors and sizes, making it possible to create new impactful opportunities for graduates while benefiting organisations across Scotland.
GCAS has partnered with 230 organisations, one of which is the charity Scottish Love in Action (SLA). SLA works with local partners in India to empower vulnerable children and young people by creating generational change for the most vulnerable, giving them the tools to break free from poverty and transform their lives, families, and communities.
The chief executive of SLA, Jamie McIntosh, shared that his “experience with GCAS has been extremely positive. GCAS has allowed us as a charity to try new activities, increase capacity and deliver events that wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our GCAS intern. We have a small team with only four members of staff, so taking on an intern made a significant change in what we could do. It’s typically unheard of to get the funding like this up front.”
Graduates in the Talent Pool are based in Scotland, aged 29 and under, and are currently unemployed or under employed and distant from the graduate labour market. GCAS advocates for diversity, protected characteristics, and graduates from widening participation backgrounds to ensure they are targeting support to those who can bring diverse outlooks to an organisation, and who will benefit the most from the opportunity.
At SLA graduate, Ally joined the team as an Events Administrator. During the pandemic SLA could not have any face to face events, Ally took the lead in bringing them back. Jamie commented that “If we hadn’t had Ally we wouldn’t have been able to deliver our fireworks display event. Ally had an events background and worked in hospitality, she was very capable and didn’t need much management.”
This experience was so successful, SLA has taken on another GCAS intern, Nuo, this time to work as a Data and Insight Intern (pictured, above, with Jamie McIntosh).
GCAS offers generous funding contributions of up to £8,645 available to employers in Scotland. This funding enables organisations to employ one of our GCAS talent pool graduates up to 35 hours per week. With the recent National Real Living Wage increase of £10.90 per hour, it would only cost the business approximately £2,015 to employ them for six months.
In addition to our generous financial support, organisations that partner with GCAS with will receive tailored support to scope an internship that's right for the role and sector and ensure it's beneficial for both the organisation and the graduate.
Click here for further details on how to apply.
Sharon Homan-James is regional project manager (East and North Hub) for Graduate Career Advantage Scotland.
