Generation Ireland, is a global movement born from McKinsey & Company’s CSR drive in 2014 to ensure that job seekers are given the necessary skills for the modern economy. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, it launched its inaugural AWS Cloud re/Start bootcamp in Ireland November 2020, scaling up to 10 bootcamps by 2022, impacting Dublin and Leinster regions. Today, it conducts 10-12 tech and green sector bootcamps annually, empowering 200-250 participants to secure entry-level jobs. With nine dedicated professionals, Generation Ireland aligns with a 3-year plan serving key Irish areas. Through initiatives like We Act, it champions diversity and inclusion, earning accolades such as the Inclusion and Diversity Award. Committed to reshaping workforce development, Generation Ireland is helping to power positive change in Ireland for some of Ireland’s most underrepresented groups.

1. How did Generation Ireland begin? When did it move to Ireland and how did the organisation begin to grow?

Generation globally was born out of McKinsey & Company’s CSR drive in 2014 to solve the gap between the education people are given leaving state education vs. what employers needed to fill vacant positions. From a CSR perspective,In order to achieve the best possible societal and economic impact, it was underserved unemployed and underemployed people that needed to be supported most.  The solution was the skills-to-employment bootcamp that enables underserved groups facing barriers to finding a job achieve a meaningful role by securing a life-changing career through Generation’s bootcamp programmes. 

Generation Ireland launched with its first tech AWS Cloud re/Start bootcamp programme in November 2020, as part of a Generation UK & Ireland regional approach in the middle of the Covid Pandemic. In Ireland, in 2021 we delivered our first six bootcamps in the Dublin region, and then in 2022 scaled up to 10 bootcamps supporting the wider Leinster regions. 

2. What has Generation Ireland turned into now? What programmes or initiatives do you have up and running?

Generation has now turned into a nine-strong team (part of an overall 80 strong UK & Ireland operation) that delivers 10-12 tech and green sector bootcamps a year supporting 200-250 underserved people annually to upskill and reskill, and secure well paying entry-level jobs. Our 3 Year Strategy up to 2026 will focus on 80% of our efforts serving the greater Dublin and Leinster areas, and 20% serving mainly city areas such as Cork, Limerick, Galway as well as the Dublin-Belfast corridor. The Bootcamp programmes that we run are in tech (IT Support & Cyber, AWS re/Start Cloud and Data Analyst) and in the green sector we run Retrofit Advisor and soon a solar installation bootcamp. 

3. How does Generation Ireland help those who are looking for a mentor?

Every Generation participant is allocated a mentor throughout the 10-12 week programme, and for the first six months of employment to support Generation Alumni to get used to their new employment and support with soft skills. In contrast to other organisations, we provide a 10-12 week full time programme with full wrap around support and employment outcomes. 

4. How does Generation Ireland help employers who are looking for new hires?

Generation helps employers by supplying them with in-demand, motivated and diverse entry-level candidates that are job-ready from day one. We have a constant stream of tech candidates who complete and roll-off our bootcamps year round. The benefit for employers is that they can plan their hiring strategy around our talent pool stream. In addition the hiring process is made very easy because we have a dedicated employer partnership team and candidate placement team who manage the hiring process with our employer partners.

5. Do the potential employees have to have any qualifications or experience to enter the programmes?

We support people into entry-level positions, where having a qualification is not usually the key requirement, rather it is all about a skills-first approach to hiring that is asked for. What this means is that employers look to match the skills of the job with the skills of the candidate, regardless of the qualifications they may have. This approach is of course a lot more equitable, and broadens the diversity of talent for any employer. Nevertheless, from our experience we have anywhere from 40-50% of our participants joining us with either previous qualifications or experience. The bootcamp programmes do have industry level qualifications associated with them that are the equivalent to Level QQi5 on the whole. 

6. What has the impact of the company been since its launch?

Since launch in November 2020, we have supported ~530 underserved people through our bootcamps with approx. ~70% securing new entry-level positions 3-6 months post programme. For those, the uplift of salary was anywhere between 2.5-4X, meaning they now earn 2.5 to 4 times more than before they started the programmes. In real terms these life-changing careers have enabled our alumni to move out from their parents’ houses, pay for better rented accommodation, secure a mortgage and ensure a better quality of life for them, and their families. Critically, 96% of our alumni feel more positive about their future after finishing a Generation Bootcamp, and that lift in confidence is life-changing if we did nothing else!

7. How does Generation Ireland leverage the global impact of the company to have a greater impact in Ireland?

As a Global organisation we have 30m+ data points that can help us to make the best evidenced-based decisions for each region – if that is what programme to run, how to support particular target groups, or give global mega-trend data to our partners and ecosystem so they can make more informed decisions. Examples in Ireland is how we are supporting Government and Government agencies with our global experience how to best support those facing the highest level of barriers, across age-groups upskill and reskill and secure life-changing employment.

8. Has Generation Ireland won any awards or been featured in any reputable media since your launch?

For sure, we’ve won the Inclusion and Diversity Award from the Analytics Institute of Ireland, the winner of the Diversity Impact Award from the Diversity in Tech Awards, Winner of Women in Tech Bridging the Gender Gap from the EU EIT Tech Talent Awards, and finalists in the Aontas Star Awards under the Social Inclusion category. This year so far we are listed as finalists in the Business & Finance ESG Awards, and finalists in excellence in diversity, inclusivity and equality of the Education Awards.

9. What other organisations or initiatives in Diversity and Inclusion in Ireland are Generation Ireland big fans of?

I am a very big fan of the Irish Centre for Diversity, because they bring together the most pioneering DEI employers, showcasing what they are accomplishing, that I believe acts as a guiding light for the rest of the business community. 

1. How did Generation Ireland begin? When did it move to Ireland and how did the organisation begin to grow?

Generation globally was born out of McKinsey & Company’s CSR drive in 2014 to solve the gap between the education people are given leaving state education vs. what employers needed to fill vacant positions. In order to achieve the best possible societal and economic impact, it was underserved unemployed and underemployed people that needed to be supported most.  The solution was the skills-to-employment bootcamp that enables underserved groups facing barriers to finding a job to achieve a meaningful career by securing a life-changing career through Generation’s bootcamp programmes. 

Generation Ireland launched with its first tech AWS Cloud re/Start bootcamp programme in November 2020, as part of a Generation UK & Ireland regional approach in the middle of the Covid Pandemic. In Ireland, in 2021 we delivered our first six bootcamps in the Dublin region, and in 2022 scaled up to 10 bootcamps supporting the wider Leinster regions. 

2. What has Generation Ireland turned into now? What programmes or initiatives do you have up and running?
   

Generation has now in 2024 has turned into a nine-strong team (part of an overall 80 strong Uk & Ireland operation) that delivers 10-12 tech and green sector bootcamps a year supporting 200-250 underserved people annually to upskill and reskill, and secure well paying entry-level jobs. Our 3 Year Strategy up to 2026 will focus on 80% of our efforts serving the greater Dublin and Leinster areas, and 20% serving mainly city areas such as Cork, Limerick, Galway as well as the Dublin-Belfast corridor. The Bootcamp programmes that we run are in tech (IT Support & Cyber, AWS re/Start Cloud and Data Analyst) and in the green sector we run Retrofit Advisor and soon a solar installation bootcamp. 

3. Could you go into more detail about Generation Ireland’s We Act campaign? What is involved with it and how have people been impacted by it?

As a new charity in Ireland, the We Act campaign is one of the key initiatives that we want to support in 2024, because we directly support our communities across Ireland, ensure they are more welcoming (especially with the support we give to migrant and refugee communities), more sustainable through securing unemployed and underemployed with new life changing jobs, and more just by being a champion of diversity and inclusion through the varied underserved people we help.

4.  How does Generation Ireland help those who are looking for a mentor?
   

Every Generation participant is allocated a mentor throughout the 10-12 week programme, and for the first six months of employment to support Generation Alumni to get used to their new employment and support with soft skills. In contrast to other organisations, we provide a 10-12 week full time programme with full wrap around support and employment outcomes. 

5. How does Generation Ireland help employers who are looking for new hires?
   

Generation helps employers by supplying them with in-demand, motivated and diverse entry-level candidates that are job-ready from day one. We have a constant stream of tech candidates who complete and roll-off our bootcamps year round. The benefit for employers is that they can plan their hiring strategy around our talent pool stream. In addition the hiring process is made very easy because we have a dedicated employer partnership team and candidate placement team who manage the hiring process with our employer partners.

6. Do the potential employees have to have any qualifications or experience to enter the programmes?
   

We support people into entry-level positions, where having a qualification is not usually the key requirement, rather it is all about a skills-first approach to hiring that is asked for. What this means is that employers look to match the skills of the job with the skills of the candidate, regardless of the qualifications they may have. This approach is of course a lot more equitable, and broadens the diversity of talent for any employer. Nevertheless, from our experience we have anywhere from 40-50% of our participants joining us with either previous qualifications or experience. The bootcamp programmes do have industry level qualifications associated with them that are the equivalent to Level QQi5 on the whole. 

7. What has the impact of the company been since its launch?

Since launch in November 2020, we have supported ~500 underserved people through our bootcamps with approx. ~70% securing new entry-level positions 3-6 months post programme. For those they uplift of salary was anywhere between 2.5-4X, meaning they now earn 2.5 to 4 times more than before they started the programmes. In real terms these life-changing careers have enabled our alumni to move out from their parents houses, pay for better rented accommodation, secure a mortgage and ensure a better quality of life for them, and their families. Critically, 96% of our alumni feel more positive about their future after finishing a Generation Bootcamp, and that lift in confidence is life-changing if we did nothing else!

8. How does Generation Ireland leverage the global impact of the company to have a greater impact in Ireland?
   

As a Global organisation we have 30m+ data points that can help us to make the best evidenced-based decisions for each region – if that is what programme to run, how to support particular target groups, or give global mega-trend data to our partners and ecosystem so they can make more informed decisions. Examples in Ireland is how we are supporting Government and Government agencies with our global experience how to best support those facing the highest level of barriers, across age-groups upskill and reskill and secure life-changing employment.

9. Has Generation Ireland won any awards or been featured in any reputable media since your launch?
   

For sure, we’ve won the Inclusion and Diversity Award from the Analytics Institute of Ireland, the winner of the Diversity Impact Award from the Diversity in Tech Awards, Winner of Women in Tech Bridging the Gender Gap from the EU EIT Tech Talent Awards, and finalists in the Aontas Star Awards under the Social Inclusion category. This year so far we are listed as finalists in the Business & Finance ESG Awards, and finalists in excellence in diversity, inclusivity and equality of the Education Awards.

10. What other organisations or initiatives in Diversity and Inclusion in Ireland are Generation Ireland big fans of?

I am a very big fan of the Irish Centre for Diversity, because they bring together the most pioneering DEI employers, showcasing what they are accomplishing, that I believe acts as a guiding light for the rest of the business community.