Elena Brake
Elena made the inspiring switch from fine arts to engineering. Her journey reflects the value of bringing fresh perspectives, transferable skills, and lived experience into new spaces. We recognise the value that career changers bring - fresh thinking, resilience, and a broad perspective.
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We're delighted to partner with the Open University on sponsorship of this category.
The Open University’s (OU) annual Business Barometer report reveals that 54% of employers are experiencing a skills shortage and with almost a third (32%) expecting it to worsen in the next five years. Enabling career changers is crucial to addressing the UK's workforce skills gap, and future proofing their businesses.
The OU, with over 55 years of experience, allows career changers to pursue their ambitions without requiring prior qualifications for most courses, benefiting over 2.3 million students. As a pioneer in tutor supported online learning, the OU enables individuals to balance earning and learning, particularly aiding those with disabilities—37,000 of its 199,000 students declare a disability. It also serves rural and deprived areas, with 28% of undergraduates from the 25% most deprived UK areas. The OU is a key option for armed forces personnel and veterans.
Since 2017, the OU has provided higher and degree apprenticeships to learners in over 1,100 organisations, enhancing its solutions for upskilling and reskilling employees.
We're delighted to partner with the Career Transition Partnership on sponsorship of this category.
The Career Transition Partnership is the official resettlement service for the Armed Forces. The CTP provides comprehensive personal support for Service leavers who are transitioning from their military career into civilian life. It has supported more than 310,000 personnel over the past 25 years. We help Service leavers approach their resettlement with confidence, making sure that their destination after their Service is appropriate to their skills, knowledge, experience and aspirations – whether that is in work, in education or in retirement.
The service is delivered at ten Regional Resettlement Centres in the UK, along with the flagship Resettlement Training Centre in Aldershot, which contains purpose-built resettlement facilities.
Since 1 October 2024, the CTP has been a partnership between the Ministry of Defence working together with Reed in Partnership and the Forces Employment Charity.
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