New appointment for Hand Picked shows commitment to help more young people into work

Hand Picked, the award-winning jobs programme set up and run by CR Smith, has appointed Megan Mackay as Development Manager. She joins the team to expand its capacity to offer paid work placements and employability training to unemployed young people as the country recovers from the pandemic.

Megan brings a wealth of experience from a varied career spanning the travel, retail and recruitment sectors. In her most recent role, Megan helped a number of young people transition into apprenticeships for a leading facilities management company.

As Development Manager, she will be reaching out to local employers to seek their support in helping young people into jobs as well as delivering Hand Picked Academies to groups of unemployed young people when it is safe to do so. She will also be working directly with schools to strengthen their employability offering to pupils through delivery of Hand Picked for Schools.

Hand Picked uses an employer-led approach to introduce young people to the world of work and has attracted a large network of organisations since its creation in 2011.

Welcoming Megan, Hand Picked Project Manager, Pauline McGeevor said:

“At Hand Picked, the coronavirus crisis has strengthened our resolve that young people need a business-led approach to employability. Bringing Megan into the team is a measure of our commitment to increase our impact and to help more young people at this particularly challenging time.”

Hand Picked from CR Smith was set up by Gerard Eadie CBE and runs a number of employability initiatives, including its job sponsorship programme of paid work placements, Hand Picked for Schools, the Hand Picked Academy and the Employability Hub at Lochgelly High School.

Any business wishing to join the Hand Picked from CR Smith network, should contact [email protected] or [email protected]