Who we are

We are a charity that helps young people and adults to achieve their potential by providing high quality, professional career, employment and training services.

Our History

Established in 2001 as part of the Connexions network, Career Connect became a charity in 2011. In 2020/21 we worked with 64,000 participants across 52 contracts, working with 21 commissioners and across 160 schools. We deliver our programmes to young people and adults, working in schools and in the community. We are always diversifying our services to reach new settings, including prisons and the criminal justice system.

We are passionate about social mobility and helping the most disadvantaged people to create a better future for themselves.

Career Connect has always focused on innovation and delivering ground-breaking services, including two Social Impact Bond programmes – New Horizons and Unlocking Potential – supported by Bridges Ventures.

New Horizons focused on young people who are (or at risk of being) Not in Education, Employment or Training (or N.E.E.T.). The programme supported 4,222 young people and delivered £10.56m worth of outcomes with an outlay of £4.5m.
Unlocking Potential – helped young people overcome mental health and well-being barriers that could increase their risk of becoming N.E.E.T.. The programme supported 4,040 young people, delivering £9.9m worth of outcomes against an outlay of £4.2m.

Both programmes delivered above target returns for our social investors, with independent evaluations showing strong evidence of their impact.

Our leading expertise in careers guidance enabled Career Connect to provide consultancy internationally in Sri Lanka, the UAE and more recently in Bahrain, where we delivered training and helped them design an all-age career service.