ROBBIE SAVAGE AND KARREN BRADY JOIN FORCES TO ASK THE NATION'S YOUTHS…WHAT'S YOUR GOAL?
npower launches What's Your Goal 2012, inspiring teens across the UK to kickstart their future careers
Recently Robbie Savage has hung up his 'Strictly' dancing shoes to join The Apprentice star and West Ham Vice Chairman Karren Brady in leading a 'Dream Team' of 11 high profile football experts to launch npower's What's Your Goal? 2012.
What's Your Goal is a nationwide work experience scheme designed to inspire young people to explore the vast and varied careers found in our national sport.
Working in partnership with The Football League Trust, npower is seeking to support young people's employment opportunities for the future, by showcasing the wide range of job opportunities available within football and demonstrating that you don't have to be the star player on the field to make your mark within the industry.
What's Your Goal? 2012 will see npower work with all 72 clubs in The Football League to offer over 300 valuable work experience placements to school children in Years 10-11 in their local areas.
In addition to these exciting placements, npower is also offering the nation's young people the chance to win theonce-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend a day being mentored by the WYG 'Dream Team'. Children in Years 7-11 are invited to apply for the chance to gain first-hand experience of working life by spending time with high profile experts such as Brady and Savage and trying out their coverted jobs for themselves!
Having proved their worth after submitting a CV and video evidence demonstrating their enthusiam, 11 young people will be chosen to take on roles such as, being a pundit with Savage at the npower Championship Play Offs; helping Brady make boardroom decisions at West Ham and putting a team of professional players through their paces working as first-team coach with Paul Trollope at Birmingham City.
Footballing titans such as Sir John Majedski, owner of Reading FC, Cardiff manager Malky McKay and Sasa Ihringova, The Football League's most senior female referee,have also come on board to offer their time to support the initiative.
Making up the rest of the Dream Team is Liam Sweeting, match analyst at Blackpool FC; Paul Redman, TV producer for The Football League Show; Trollope; John Sibley, match photographer; Claire Tomlinson, TV presenter for Sky Sports and Simon Boynton, website publisher at Digital Sports Group.
Brady said: "npower's What's Your Goal 2012 is a fantastic way to show young people that you don't need to score goals to shoot to the top in the football industry. Whether you're passionate about business, photography, presenting or refereeing the nation's favourite sport, this scheme offers young people a great way to learn skills from the best in the business."
"I've never played professional football but I've managed to create a successful career by working hard and taking my chances when they arose. This industry is full of opportunities, as long as you work hard."
Savage adds: "I've worked within the football industry for over 20 years and I've loved every minute of it. A lot of people look at football and don't see how much effort goes into each and every match but we're here to show young people just how many opportunities there are - and not all of them mean you have to be able to kick a ball!
"It's not an easy career, but if young people are ambitious and passionate about the game, they'll find a career in football incredibly rewarding. I hope that I can inspire teenagers out there to apply for one of the many roles offered by npower's What's Your Goal 2012? so that they can kick-start a career in football today!"
Clare McDougall, npower's head of education and community, said: "It's really hard out there for young people at the moment and this campaign can help get young people thinking 'what is my goal? We're challenging them to take their futures into their own hands, try out amazing jobs and build skills that will help them to conquer the working world.
"With mentors like Karren Brady, Robbie Savage and Sir John Madejski, we really are giving young people the opportunity of a lifetime - to shadow people who are the top of their game, who know the football business better than anyone.
"What's Your Goal? 2012 is bigger and better than ever before and we hope it will give even more young people the inspiration to start thinking about careers within the football industry."
To enter, students are asked to fill out a job application, downloadable at www.npower.com/whatsyourgoal.
