SKILLS
28 April 2016
FUTURESCOT 17
The retention approach
to executive search: how one
recruiter has created talent
communities for its clients
Denholm Associates
is applying consumer
marketing techniques
to recruitment search
BY KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
on the same project. Prewired is not
about bringing all participants through
a curriculum at the same pace, at
the same time, producing the same
work and coming away with the same
skill set. You will see each participant
engaged with their own learning, in
their own way at the pace they want
to pursue it. You will see young people
between the ages of seven and 19 working on projects that they have initiated,
and you will also see them taking time
out, chatting, playing games - looking
for all the world like members of any
tech start-up in this glorious city.
Prewired was founded in 2012 by Ewan
Klein, Freda O’Byrne, Amy Guy, Kit
Barnes and Stuart Anderson. It is managed by a voluntary committee and
is run by Rikki Guy, Cameron Gray,
Freda O’Byrne and Helen Williams.
Freda O’Byrne is also chair of playbase.
org.uk, an online learning platform for
early years parents and carers.
Case study: RailCode
BY DAVID AND
ANDREW FERGUSON
The increasing skills gap in the technology sector has often been highlighted by initiatives such as Code Club,
Hour of Code – and recently the BBC
micro:bit. However, all these projects
depend on self-interest. For them to be
successful, young people must actively
have a desire to learn programming.
An alternative approach would be
something that appeals to young
people on the basis of a fun and engaging experience which teaches them to
code at the same time.
That was the premise behind
RailCode, our upcoming app that
was created last August at the Young
Rewired State Festival of Code. There
is nothing complex behind the concept
of the idea: users are presented with
an underground tube map, and have
to direct a train from one station to
another. This could quite easily be
implemented in a non-technical interface, but instead users are required to
code the train to its destination, using
the inbuilt tutorial and help.
What’s more, the premise of a
train requiring navigation through an
V