Careerbay CIC is an early-stage business helping young people to find high school/college work experience and apprenticeship opportunities in Wakefield, Sheffield and York, based on their interests and location.

They aid employers in recruiting candidates for their apprenticeship opportunities and help schools/colleges to easily find local career opportunities to present to their students.

Daniel Peacock, Founder and CEO said, ‘Being a social enterprise is key to being a genuinely youth-led organisation and serving their interests. It also gives us that stamp of authenticity and credibility when we are speaking with our key employers, schools and colleges. They know as a social enterprise and non-profit that our activities are to aid young people and their access to career development opportunities as much as possible.’

Their impact is measured by the number of visits to their platform from young people, schools and colleges, and the number of employers using our service to promote work experience/apprenticeship opportunities.

They’re also working on developing partnerships with local schools and colleges.

The business generates revenue through advertising and promoting employer opportunities to young people.

‘The best thing about being a CIC is knowing the impact we can have as we grow. Rather than simply increasing profits, the growth of the business expands our potential to support young people in their early careers and allows us to increase the support we can offer as a social enterprise.’

They needed help from BFGWY to:

• Get both more young people and employers using their website

The help they received was:

• One-to-one coaching with a BFGWY Enterprise Coach
• Help to expand their networks, develop local partnerships and access other support
• Help to apply for a BFGWY Growth and Resilience Grant that will pay for them to work with a Marketing Consultant on expanding their customer base
• Referral to the Prince’s Trust for further coaching and mentoring from them

The impact of specialist enterprise coaching:

“The social enterprise coaching has been key in terms of filling the gap between the knowledge I knew pursuing entrepreneurship at University versus entering the world of social enterprise/third sector. Learning how to successfully apply for grant funding for example. Thanks to Rob Greenland (BFG Coach) we were able to access the Growth & Resilience Grant, and we also were successful applicants to the Maximus UK Local Impact Fund. Rob sent us the fund to apply for and when we made it to the second round, he helped us with the structure of our pitch to maximise our chances of success. Having only launched a year ago, this was a great win, and Maximus told us this is the first time they have ever funded an online platform. Rob was a huge help here and we are very grateful for his support.

It’s also really helpful to have someone available to communicate with on a frequent basis, asking questions and helping me and the wider team think differently. This journey can be quite isolating at times given our nature as a recent startup, having only launched just over a year ago.

Thanks to the employers and organisations engaging with us now – Jet2.com/Jet2Holidays, Maximus UK etc., we have just become a Social Enterprise UK Recommended Supplier, which we think will be helpful going forward to help bring more employers and organisations on board with our mission.”

Daniel’s Top Tips

• Do plenty of research – be really clear about why you feel a social enterprise is the best fit compared to other business models, as there are more restrictions and responsibilities. One of the challenges is that it is more difficult to set up than a traditional limited company. You are also held accountable to the CIC regulator and have to fill out a report every year. CICs are generally less understood than other business models, so sometimes as a startup you feel like you have to justify yourself to those who may initially be confused by the concept and wonder why you are not a limited company.
• Ask yourself – are you driven by serving a community, or are you looking to solve a problem and earn a profit? Do you view your stakeholders as merely customers or do you see them as integral in the development of your business going forward? Also, is your ultimate objective to increase profits, or are you wanting to give back to your stakeholders and improve their wellbeing in the long term?
• Engage with your target market and focus on addressing their needs as much as possible, creating value in the process. We exist to serve their needs, so it’s vital we listen to them and adapt what we do accordingly.

Find out more:

• Website: https://careerbay.co.uk
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/careerbayappuk
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/careerbayapp