16-24 year olds have been hit really hard by the disruption caused by Covid-19. If you’ve left school this year, it would be an understatement to say you’ve experienced a lot of uncertainty. Exams were cancelled, prom is on hold, college and university life is looking very different next year, and your teacher gets to decide your final grade. It’s a lot to think about, and you might be wondering where all this leaves you in terms of your career options and future plans.

In the North East, we’ve got your back. We’ve teamed up with Baltic Apprenticeships and local tech companies to help you get your career back on track.

Introducing… The RAW Digital Talent Academy

The RAW Digital Talent Academy is a supercharged package of skills and support to provide you with the solid foundations you need to launch a career in the tech and digital sector. Here’s how it works:

• RAW Digital and Baltic Apprenticeships get together with local tech employers to work out what skills and knowledge they’ll need in the future.
• We feed this information into the RAW Digital Talent Academy, designing our training around the skills that employers have told us they need.
• For two weeks, an amazing group of young people aged 16-24 take part in our interactive, real-time online training; learning new skills and techniques for the workplace.
• After the programme, we support our learners to take the next steps towards a career in digital. The employers we worked with at the start all get the chance to hire you on a paid, full time Level 3 Apprenticeship programme with Baltic.

This is a really exciting opportunity to get a true insight into the North East’s tech sector and learn first-hand what they are looking for in their future talent. Our region’s digital and tech sector punches way above its weight, and is home to businesses leading the way in space technologies, advertising, FinTech, health tech, AI, VR, big data, professional services, digital marketing, gaming and more! Across Teesside, County Durham, Newcastle, Tyneside and Northumberland, the digital tech sector is powered by people. If you are aged 16-24 and not in full-time education, employment or training, this is your chance to join them.

Get the full details of each RAW Talent Academy on our dedicated learner page.

Upcoming Talent Academy Dates:

• Digital Marketing Academy: 14th-24th July 2020
• Software Development Academy: 14th-24th July 2020
• IT Academy: 18th-28th August 2020

To register for the programme, please get in touch with the RAW Digital team, via email, Facebook Messenger, or by phone on 01642 688411. Send them a quick message and they’ll take you through the next steps.

What happens afterwards? Is an apprenticeship right for me?

The RAW Digital Talent Academy brings local employers together to support young adults in a time of real uncertainty, and create genuine entry-level career opportunities in the digital tech sector. These career opportunities are usually in the form of an Advanced Level 3 Apprenticeship, delivered by the team at Baltic Apprenticeships.

Forget what you think you know about apprenticeships. It’s not all making the tea and sitting around in college one day a week. With a Baltic Apprenticeship, you’ll be embedded within your new workplace, doing real work and making a real difference to your company. Your training is delivered in week-long blocks throughout the programme, and is available online through the SMART Classroom – so you can log on from anywhere. You’ll complete training, projects and assignments that are based on your day-to-day activities in the workplace, and after around 15 months, you’ll emerge from the programme with the knowledge, skills and confidence to take on the world. 

After completing an apprenticeship, you’ll have a lot of options: many choose a promotion and permanent role with the organisation they trained with, others choose to progress through a higher level apprenticeship programme, including Level 4 apprenticeships and even degree-level programmes. Some choose to go to university, with money in their pocket and professional experience to put them ahead of their peers when they graduate.

No matter what is happening in the world right now, it will always need young people with the drive and passion to succeed. With the RAW Digital Talent Academy, you provide the passion and we create the opportunity.