At Action for Children we give young staff the chance to grow... just look at me - Paul Carberry

It’s been 29 years since I joined Action for Children and last month I began my new role as Chief Executive. My journey within this fantastic charity is testament to the value we as an organisation place on giving our young staff members the opportunities to grow and develop, and I am very proud that we have been recognised for this with the prestigious honour of the Investing In Young People Platinum Award.

In November 1994, I started an exciting new chapter in my life with a new job at Action for Children (back then the charity was called NCH) as a Project Leader in Inverclyde. It was a small project with just me, another member of staff and a part-time administrator and together we immersed ourselves in figuring out how we could best support the children, families and young people in the local area.

I was very grateful for the opportunity and trust placed upon me to lead the project, it allowed me to work in an area I was passionate about and afforded me the chance to grow in the role. I was able to utilise the experience I gained and invest it in other areas of the charity, building on what I had learned to improve the delivery of our services.

Over the years I progressed within Action for Children and served as a Children’s Services Manager, Assistant Director for Youth Justice, Assistant Director for Children’s Services, Deputy Director for Scotland, Operations Director UK North, Head of Business Development, Scotland National Director, and England Interim National Director. I was also seconded to the Scottish Government part-time for three years when I was an Assistant Director.

Paul Carberry, Action for Children Director.

Now, as Chief Executive of Action for Children, I will do everything possible to ensure that the young people within our organisation have the same opportunity to realise their full potential and work their way up. This ethos is in the DNA of our charity, just as we strive to nurture the potential of the children we support so to do we strive to nurture the potential of our young staff. This means recruiting people with the right ethos and qualities rather than just qualifications and I am living proof that this approach works.

As an organisation, we have invested in policies and practices to let our young staff thrive. By giving young people the right support to build their skills and abilities within the workplace they can meaningfully contribute to the development of the services in which they are employed. We also have a number of young people in full-time employment with us who have lived experience, this can make all the difference in building trust and respect with those we aim to support. We also strive to ensure that our staff teams are representative of the diversity of the communities we serve which in turn helps form more meaningful bonds with those who we support.

The value we place in our young staff is what resulted in Action for Children achieving the Investing in Young People (IIYP) Platinum Award. The award recognises employers who have demonstrated a strong commitment to harnessing the talent of young people and providing a pathway for them to progress within the organisation. This accolade is something I am very proud of and the fact we are just one of 10 organisations in Scotland to achieve platinum status illustrate the efforts we have gone to in supporting our young staff.

Having the right staff in place will be crucial in our ability to reach and support as many children, families and young people as possible and, given the cost of living crisis and cuts to budgets, our staff will be invaluable going forward. I am immensely proud of the teams we have here at Action for Children and I can see future Chief Executive all around this incredible workforce.

Paul Carberry, Action for Children Chief Executive