Bridge of Don Academy Receives LinkedIn Training for the First Time, Delivered by BrandHouzz Digital in Partnership with DYW North East

Aberdeen-based B2B digital marketing agency BrandHouzz Digital has partnered with Developing Young Workforce North East (DYW) to deliver LinkedIn training to S6 students at Bridge of Don Academy as part of a programme preparing school leavers for life beyond secondary education. It marks the first time LinkedIn has been formally taught to students at Bridge of Don Academy.

Our founder and director Victoria Vyalikova delivered the session alongside other specialists covering personal leadership and personal finance, forming a practical programme designed to equip students with the skills, confidence, and tools they need as they move into university, apprenticeships, or the workforce.

The LinkedIn workshop equipped students with the skills to build a credible professional profile, understand how recruiters and employers search for candidates online, and start establishing a digital presence before they need one.

The programme comes at a critical moment for young people entering the jobs market. The Milburn Report, published in May 2026, found that nearly one million young people in the UK are not in education, employment or training (NEET), warning of a growing "lost generation" and estimating the economic cost at £125 billion a year. Only 32% of young people reported receiving face-to-face careers advice in 2025, and apprenticeships were discussed with just 18%. The picture is no less stark when it comes to competition for the roles that do exist: according to the ISE Student Recruitment Survey 2025, UK employers received a median of 140 applications per graduate vacancy, which more than triple the figure recorded in 2002. Graduate hiring fell 8% in 2025, while youth unemployment in the UK currently sits at around 14%.

Victoria said: "We are sending young people into one of the most competitive entry-level job markets in a generation, and most of them are invisible online. A strong LinkedIn profile is not a nice-to-have, it is the difference between being found and being overlooked. Recruiters, headhunters, and employers are actively searching LinkedIn every day. If you are not there, or if your profile says nothing meaningful about you, you are already behind the people who are. I wanted to give these students a genuine head start: not theory, but practical skills they can act on the same day."

Jamie Hutcheon, Director at Developing Young Workforce North East, said:

"We are delighted that Victoria has been leading this session for the S6 students at Bridge of Don Academy. The young people are not just learning how to create a profile, they are developing the confidence and skills to present themselves professionally in a world where their digital presence matters as much as their CV. This kind of practical, employer-led input is exactly what our young people need as they prepare for their next steps, helping them to stand out in an increasingly competitive jobs market."

The session was delivered across three cohorts of around 20 students each. At the start of the workshop, Victoria asked how many students already had a LinkedIn profile. Just two hands went up, and both admitted they had set up their profiles and didn’t look at them often. For the vast majority, LinkedIn was either unknown territory or something they assumed was for people already in work.

That assumption was challenged early. When Victoria shared the stark reality of today's jobs market: that UK employers receive a median of 140 applications per single graduate vacancy, more than triple the figure from two decades ago, the reaction in the room was visible. For many students, it was the first time the scale of competition had been laid out in front of them in concrete terms. But the session wasn't about alarm, it was about action. Students worked through the building blocks of a strong LinkedIn profile: how to write a headline that goes beyond "student at Bridge of Don Academy," how to frame a Saturday job or Duke of Edinburgh award in language that resonates with employers, and how to tell their story in an About section that sounds like a person, not a template. By the end, the mood had shifted from apprehension to confidence. As one student put it, they now felt "LinkedIn" with what they needed to do.