By tackling the digital skills gap, This Is How helps young people take their first steps into the creative industry

Founded by Nominet and Livity, the platform provides a podcast series, career quiz, educational content and inspirational stories from creatives who have landed their dream jobs.

Date
6 July 2022

Taking your first steps into the world of work can be somewhat nerve-wracking, especially if you’re not quite sure what route to take and how to go about it. There’s so much out there these days that it can be overwhelming; maybe you’re fresh out of uni or you’ve been at your role for the past few years, and you’re in need of a change. So what do you do; do you try your hands at a bit of coding, or do you follow your passion in music? Or maybe you want to be a data scientist? Either way, it doesn’t have to be scary and there are numerous resources out there to help you choose.

One of which is This Is How, an online platform developed by Nominet and Livity – a culture studio and future consultancy specialising in youth culture. Through its podcast series, career quiz and learning content, the platform has been created to inspire young people and emerging creatives to opt for digital careers, helping them find suitable roles based on their passions. The investigative podcast series is hosted by Zoe Mallett and Will Stowe, in which they speak to role models who hold titles at big brands within the digital and cultural sectors. So far, with two podcast seasons under its belt, This Is How has seen great traction in terms of providing its audience with a variety of digital careers, including courses and networks; so far, it’s had 22,000 visits to specific digital career role pages, nearly 11,000 views on educational courses plus over 750 thousand listens and counting.

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Copyright © This Is How, 2022

The podcast also features stories from a range of industry professionals who share how they landed their own dream jobs. This includes Chrystal King, a product designer at Depop who got into her field by designing rave flyers and creating skins on Bebo; Paul Curry, a software engineer at Buzzfeed UK who dropped out of university and became Buzzfeed’s “computer wizard”, writes This Is How’s website; plus Sam Osinuga, animator at Epic Games. “Through watching Pokemon, Sam first discovered his love for animation and his dream came true when he landed his job at Epic Games working on Spiderman.” There’s also an interesting episode from freelance 3D art director Teresa Fogolari. “After her Instagram face filters went viral, Teresa started getting loads of work, including a music video for Calvin Harris x The Weeknd,” says the site. So if you’re thinking about posting some of your work on social media – Insta, perhaps – then don’t let anything stop you. You never know who might see it, and Teresa’s journey, plus many others, is testament to that fact.

Alongside the podcast, This Is How also supplies a quiz where users can answer a series of multiple choice questions in order to understand what industry role best matches them and their interests. There’s no right or wrong, and you don’t need to have taken an academic route. Instead, you’ll be asked things like, ‘When you use a website how much do you care about how it looks?’ and ‘What types of games do you like to play’? and ‘How do you like to work with people?’ These are the broad and all-encompassing questions that will decipher what really makes you, you. And then what your best-suited job would be in the digital sector.

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Copyright © This Is How, 2022

The digital world has experienced a rapid boom in recent times. As a result, there’s an increasing demand for digital skills in the UK job market, as stated by a report from gov.uk in 2019. With technology becoming more intertwined with our lives – like a piece of furniture in the home – it’s now vital for the workforce to increase their digital skills. Responding to these findings, This Is How aims to tackle the “motivation gap” that exists between young people and digital skills careers. The programme strives to help young people gain skills and develop their careers in the industry, all the while expanding their knowledge on the available jobs that exist in the big and vast world of digital.

“82 per cent of advertised roles require digital skills, yet 12.6 million of the adult UK population lack these skills. And with 65 per cent of children entering primary school now due to work in jobs that don’t yet exist, the UK economy could lose as much as £141.5 billion of GDP growth if this issue continues to go unchecked,” said Ellie Bradley, managing director of registry solutions and public benefit at Nominet, sourced from the company’s website. “Our aim is that This Is How will provide insights into the plethora of digital roles available, in an engaging and informative way. In turn, we hope it will play its part ensuring the UK remains a vibrant digital economy as more young people become aware of, and embrace, as wide a variety of digital opportunities as possible.”

Through the work exuded by This Is How – a harmonious collaboration between two like-minded companies – it proves that the demand for this type of informative content is out there, and just how vital it is to support young people and those wanting a career change on their paths into the creative industry. It also has great plans for the future: “We are currently in the planning phase of our S3 This Is How activity and plan to evolve to create a deeper and more meaningful impact,” states the release from the brand. Clearly, there’s exciting things to come for This Is How and young creatives alike.

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Copyright © This Is How, 2022

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Copyright © This Is How, 2022

This Is How

This Is How

This Is How is a joint venture between Nominet and Livity. Funded by Nominet, it forms a key part of Nominet’s public benefit programme and commitment to provide support and opportunities to tackle some of the most important digital issues facing young people in the UK today. Livity, the leading culture studio and future consultancy with expertise in youth culture, has led the development and delivery of the This Is How platform and podcast.

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Copyright © This Is How, 2022

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