The courses will focus on helping marginalised groups
Resume Foundation has started delivering technical training for the first of its digital skills bootcamps, in partnership with Coventry University and West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), to improve digital skills and create new job opportunities across the region.
The bootcamps are funded by the WMCA and are free of charge for learners. They aim to equip West Midlands residents with digital skills over the course of a flexible 16-week programme, which includes eight weeks of technical training delivered by Coventry University.
The digital bootcamps support the unemployed, those seeking a career change, as well as employed people looking to gain the digital skills required to secure more responsibility or a promotion with their current employer. Resume Foundation’s bootcamps are particularly focused on marginalised groups that are victims of digital exclusion – not having the digital skills to obtain new jobs or promotions.
There will be four bootcamps: Cyber Security, Data Science, Digital Marketing, and User Experience (UX) and Design Research. The Cyber Security skills programme is the first to launch, with Data Science following in February and the remaining two programmes in the Spring.
The courses are supported by a valuable four-week industry placement. A wraparound employability package will further help learners with an employer interview, as well as access to a mentorship programme. This package will include monthly employer briefings, where between 15 and 20 SME employers will be in attendance, providing career guidance, networking opportunities and interview advice.
Additionally, those who wish to set up their own business will also have the option to become part of a Bootcamp Entrepreneurs Club. Successful applicants will benefit from additional employability training including CV workshopping, job applications and interview support throughout the scheme.
Michael Corrigan, CEO of the Resume Foundation, said: “We’re delighted to begin our Technical Digital Training as part of our Digital Bootcamps. It marks an important milestone in our work with people in the West Midlands to deliver our programme.
“The excellent technical courses being operated by Coventry University will provide superb training for our learners. This will help to ensure they develop into candidates who can then apply for jobs in the burgeoning digital skills sector.”
To date, WMCA has received £7 million in funding, with which it has piloted over 30 digital bootcamps, training around 2,000 adults, who were unemployed or in low-paid jobs, with vital tech skills. Over the next three years, WMCA aims to support over 4,000 people through its bootcamps.
About Resume Foundation
Resume Foundation is a charity that works to promote and help to overcome the issues of lack of employment and opportunity for “marginalised people”, including over-50s, women, especially those returning to work, ex-offenders, and other unemployed people who have a barrier into work.
About West Midlands Combined Authority
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is a group of 18 local councils and three local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) working together to make the West Midlands region a better place to live and work. It was set up in 2016.