'My Superstars Journey' CV Scheme

Northern Ireland has the greatest disability employment gap of any UK nation at 45.2%. The outcome of this project aims to make employment more accessible to young people with learning disabilities in Mid-Ulster by placing focus on the abilities that these individuals possess, and making their skills visible to employers through a personally tailored CV. Using ethnography and a person-centered approach to service design were key to producing an outcome that best met the needs of these young people. I worked in collaboration with the Superstars Café, a local social enterprise which provides training and mentoring in employability skills to young people with learning disabilities, to create and implement a new service into their business – the My Superstars Journey CV Scheme. The scheme includes a booklet, in which the young person’s mentor can record their progress and skills they have developed while working in the café. Additionally, their colleagues can leave words and phrases of affirmation to describe the young person. The information recorded in the booklet is then transformed into a CV which highlights the employable traits and skills that the young person has developed. Overall this process proved to not just be beneficial in making the young peoples’ skills visible to employers, but also in making them visible to themselves. It enabled the young people to grow in self-confidence and better articulate their strengths.