Springpod's Social Mission
Why we exist
Springpod's co-founder Sam Hyams wanted to fix one problem. Careers advice for young people was uneven, and work experience opportunities went to whoever already had the connections to find them, not necessarily whoever needed them most.
So, Springpod started life in 2016 as a careers information platform, a place to read about jobs and employers. But it didn't take long to learn the real problem.
We quickly found that a lack of information isn't the issue for young people. It's lack of access to experience.
That insight became urgent overnight when the pandemic hit and in-person work experience, the most popular thing on the platform, disappeared completely. So the team rebuilt virtually, to the highest quality bar they could. And that is still the reason Springpod exists today.
Only 1 in 4 young people leave school having had access to work experience.
That's the gap we get up every day to close.
Where we're at
1.2m+
enrolments
63%
female
45%
from global majority backgrounds
24%
qualify for free school meals
21%
would be the first in their family to consider higher education
9%
have identified a disability
7%
are care experienced
£508m+
social value created since 2022
45x
social return on investment
£1,467
value created for every learner
1.2m+
enrolments
63%
female
45%
from global majority backgrounds
24%
qualify for free school meals
21%
would be the first in their family to consider higher education
9%
have identified a disability
7%
are care experienced
£508m+
social value created since 2022
45.6:1
social return on investment
£1,467
value created for every learner
The UK is in the grip of a NEET crisis
Right now, a million young people are not in education, employment or training, and it's a number that's proving stubbornly hard to shift. This is something we're actively trying to solve. We've partnered with charities like Movement to Work, and kept refining a more targeted approach aimed at the young people the system is currently failing hardest. That work is producing real, tangible results.
The Employer's Role in the NEET Crisis
We recently ran a webinar with experts from Costa and Browne Jacobson providing industry input, Teamworks Hub and Chase Terrace Academy to discuss how this can be tackled in education and the community, and a youth ambassador for Movement to Work to provide the voice of someone NEET. Worth taking a watch and discovering Springpod's role in tackling this crisis!
Watch the webinarVirtual to reality
Virtual Work Experience was never built to replace in-person. It was built to open the door to it. Virtual is what makes in-person possible for the young people who'd never otherwise get near it.
10,000+
Before Springpod, Airbus's in-person scheme reached 100–120 students a year, limited to the South West and Wales. Now, over 10,000 young people take part every year, from every background, across the UK.
Read the Airbus Impact ReportPlus, employers can flag a virtual experience as "virtual-to-reality", which means completing it in full and registering your interest puts you directly in the running for an actual, in-person placement with that employer.
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Our social impact
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