Young Sea Changers Trainee

As a Young Sea Changers Trainee, you’ll help ensure young voices are at the heart of policymaking for Scotlands seas. You’ll play an essential part in organising our annual Community Gathering and craft your own marine policy project, tailored to your interests and skills.

We’re committed to supporting your growth to build experience and skills for future employment. From day one, you’ll have:

• A dedicated mentor to guide you through the traineeship

• Access to training, networking, and personal development opportunities

• A welcoming, inclusive environment where your ideas are valued and your voice matters

This traineeship has been created as a positive action initiative to provide meaningful paid work experience for a young person (aged 18-25) from a Black, Asian or other minority ethnic background and living in Scotland. This is because the marine sector has very poor racial diversity (see here), and we recognise that the lack of accessible entry-level opportunities is one of the barriers contributing to this underrepresentation. You’ll ideally have no or limited (i.e less than 2-years) experience in the sector already.

• Contribute to the organisation and delivery of our Community Gathering on 5th September in Edinburgh, including helping with programme planning, event promotion & logistics on the day.

• Develop a personal marine policy project supported by the YSCS team. This will be tailored to your personal interests, skill development goals and relevant policy opportunities.

• Contribute to other aspects of YSCS’s work, including our Young Persons Policy Group, members engagement and other activities.

Desirable (In priority order)
● Interest or awareness in marine policy and environmental issues, particularly
those affecting Scotland’s seas.
● Interest or awareness in advocacy or campaigning, particularly around
environmental or social causes.
● Basic IT skills and comfort using email and video calls to communicate
digitally within teams.
● Comfortable interacting with colleagues, other young people, other
organisations in a range of professional settings.
● Good organisational skills – for example, ability to prioritise time to different
tasks and manage your workload effectively.
● Good written communication skills – for example, this could have been gained
through writing for essays, social media, blogs, reports, or campaign
materials.
● Basic creative or digital skills, like being able to create social media posts,
design simple graphics, or edit videos.
Other
● Be eligible to work in the UK
● Be based in Scotland
● Be available to attend our Community Gathering on 5th September in
Edinburgh (travel & accommodation costs will be provided if required)
● Access to a laptop and reasonable internet connection for remote working