Over 300 global employees from Talent and Talent RISE will be volunteering their time this September for the Talent RISE global ‘Step Up Challenge’ initiative.  

The initiative aimed at helping young people with challenges to finding employment enters its second year running. 

“We all have a part to play in helping our young people find meaningful careers,” said Talent RISE CEO ANZ Karen Graham. 

The Talent RISE ‘Step Up Challenge’ will involve Talent and Talent RISE employees walking 20 km on September 8th to raise valuable funds for Talent RISE.  

In its inaugural year in 2022, Talent RISE raised over AU$100,000 which helped over 1,000 young people with coaching, mentoring, and training and secured meaningful employment for 75 young people. In 2023, all funds raised will go towards three life-changing initiatives for young people. These are:  

• Tech Academy: The Tech Academy will fund a group of young people through work placements and training to acquire invaluable skills and experience, providing them with a clear pathway into tech roles – a pathway they never thought possible. 
• Paid Internship Scheme: Paid internships can be life-changing but are often impossible to secure for the young people we work with. This scheme will fund internships that provide critical experience to help young people gain confidence and secure employment. 
• Equal Access Program: This program will support young people from refugee, asylum seeker, or Indigenous backgrounds by covering the cost of training (alongside RISE work readiness support) to provide a platform for future security.  

Graham highlighted that she is committed to helping young people find meaningful work.   

“In 2022, we were thrilled to have raised over AU$100,000 and this year we hope to go above that. We are humbled to be able to launch three life-changing initiatives this year,” 

Launched in 2014, Talent RISE is the charitable foundation of Talent – a leading global technology and digital recruitment specialist. To date, Talent RISE has engaged more than 3,000 young people through workshops and mentoring and has successfully placed over 400 into meaningful employment.  

“Talent RISE’s overhead costs are covered which means every cent we raise for the 2023 Step Up Challenge goes directly into these three brand-new initiatives to help young people facing barriers to employment,” added Graham. 

According to the ABS, the youth unemployment rate in Australia decreased to 7.7% in June 2023. This figure however remains too high and is more than double that of the general population of 3.5%.  

According to Stats NZ, in the March 2023 quarter, the seasonally adjusted proportion of people aged 15-24 who were not employed, education, or training (NEET) was 10.3% down from 11.1% last quarter. 

Over the years, the Talent and Talent RISE global team has volunteered over 50,000 hours to giving back to charities and community projects and are proud to add the ‘Step Up Challenge’ to the list.