YP Ambassadors
The Young Professional Ambassador (YPA) volunteer role was created in 2019 to promote YP volunteer talent across the whole of the IET.
This project gives direction and focus to YPAs and one aim is to keep the enthusiasm of student volunteers once they graduate.
Volunteering Career Pathway
Through various campaigns, including the development of an online interactive quiz to help individuals identify the best volunteer role for them, this project is working with the Volunteer Engagement Board (VEB) to promote the benefits of volunteering to would-be volunteers and to help current volunteers identify new IET volunteering opportunities.
Global Challenge review
The YPC set the IET Global Challenge in 2014 to help young engineers solve a real-world problem using engineering.
The challenge has since run three times and although the campaigns have generated a lot of engagement, the reach and impact of the competition hasn’t been as successful as was originally intended.
This project is reviewing how we can better enable YPs to showcase their innovations that are having a positive impact on real-world problems.
IET@150 (YP Focus)
To ensure that YPs are engaged with the planned activities for this celebratory year and that the project team is working closely with the IET@150 organising committee to add a YP perspective.
Future of membership
Conduct research and provide recommendations about what YPs want from a membership organisation.
This research was taken and included in the strategic review of the IET membership proposition and has influenced the new Student and Early Career member journeys. This has also resulted in new projects such as Mentoring Service review and Learning and Courses.
On Campus in your Community
Establish On Campus as an important way to keep the IET relevant to students and build connections between industry and academia.
Created an initiative for On Campus groups to enable them to work within their local communities to help tackle an issue using engineering. This will also help to facilitate connections with employers and their local networks. The initiative is currently being trialled with a small number of groups.
Present Around the World UK Final
Re-establish the Present Around the World competition in the UK to increase interest and engagement.
The new format for the UK PATW Final was a great success and was held at the Space Centre in Leicester. Engagement with the following year’s competition increased as a result and it also generated a lot more interest in the YP Ambassador volunteer role.
Supporting Young Innovators
Identify opportunities for the IET to support young innovators and start-ups.
This project provided recommendations about the ways in which the IET could better support YPs in this area and it has evolved into new projects. Reviewing the Global Challenge competition as a way for start ups to showcase their innovations, reviewing the existing Mentoring service to include start up mentoring and reviewing our courses and learning offering to also include training around how to start a business or make innovations a reality.
Engineering Open House goes global
To expand the current Engineering Open House event globally to engage children with engineering.
We identified potential International organisations who would be interested in holding an Engineering Open House event in their place of business. We will work with them to plan, promote, and execute the event in future.
Apprentice Challenge
Investigate whether a competition would be an effective way for the IET to engage with apprentices and apprentice employers.
Although there was initial interest in this competition, we felt that the Apprentice membership offering should be reviewed first to ensure the foundation is solid.
Content and consumption
- Paper produced to advise the IET how best to utilise social media
- Recommendations made about what content is most engaging to a younger audience
- Three social media executives employed in marketing and communications teams to action recommendations
- Revitalised social media accounts like Instagram which now has over 2,000 followers with regular positive engagements.
YP volunteers
The contribution of YPs to the IET is invaluable and this project was focussed on encouraging more young members to discover the benefits of volunteering.
- Created case studies of volunteer stories detailing how volunteering has helped in their career
- Captured YP interviews about their volunteering experiences
- Gap analysis conducted of all board and committee young professional positions
- Worked to create an international pool of young volunteers
- Provided guidance for young volunteers occupying roles on boards and committees.
Equality and diversity
This project was to ensure that the experiences of young professionals are heard.
- Views and recommendations made on removing bias and encouraging more diversity in IET elections
- Paper discussed by Volunteer Engagement Board (VEB) and Nominations and Successions Committee
- Young professional’s views are at the heart of this paper which advised how to make governance roles more appealing to volunteers.
Future value
Aimed to deliver YP led initiatives that are truly valued to help and support YPs throughout the various stages of their career.
- Global Life Skills (Regional Pilot – March 2015 in Australia)
- Feedback from international YPs showed that they want specific soft skills courses (Life Skills courses are already free to members in the UK)
- Train the Trainer – a great way to roll out life skills courses that are geographically relevant and high quality whilst empowering and up-skilling IET volunteers;
- Top three topics selected: Fundamentals of Project Management, Leading and developing successful teams, Communication for success.
Global Challenge
Promoting new and innovative ways for YPs to engage with the IET and each other whilst harnessing the talent of young engineers and technicians to solve real-world issues.
- A competition to encourage Young Professionals across the globe to address a real-world engineering challenge
- Organised by the IET Young Professionals Committee (YPC) in partnership with RedR (a disaster relief trainer and resources provider)
- Participating teams have to propose solutions for a “Challenge”, which is a real engineering problem set by RedR
- Focus on technical feasibility, innovation of solution and marketing skills
- Strong cross-promotion with Present Around the World.
Technical challenge - Hackathon
The Young Professionals Committee (YPC) has suggested that a technical challenge for young professionals would be a key engagement tool for our target audience on a global scale, which is where the project identification of a Hackathon comes into place.
The YPC will be working on a 3-part hackathon to run throughout the summer of 2022 with the aim of upskilling in valuable team building and technical skills, and the opportunity to network with others globally.
IET 2030 Strategy
Working closely with IET staff and stakeholders, this project will ensure that a young professional focus is at the forefront of the 2030 strategy with the aim of helping the IET to achieve its project goals.
Mentoring Service
YPs have previously expressed a need for mentorship through the IET.
This project is investigating the possibility of expanding the current IET mentoring scheme to not just be linked to becoming professionally registered. This could involve offering mentoring relationships to provide advice on start-up businesses and how to turn innovations into reality.
The project team is working to conduct research and create a new proposal.
Learning and courses
Training is a key component of what attracts YPs to an Institution like the IET and this project is looking at how our existing services can be made more appealing to a YP audience.
The project team are working with IET colleagues to identify where improvements or new initiatives could help to support YPs and increase engagement.