25. Youth Group

Founders: Jack Parsons and Leon Marseglia
Founded: 2019
Website: theyouthgroup.com

Youth Group breaks into the top 25 UK startups this year, and it’s a brand we’re proud to feature. By combining a noble cause and a business-focused ambition, Youth Group earns a solid place on our list of businesses to watch.

So what is Youth Group’s specific aim, and how does it tie into a business model? The founders are well aware of how difficult it can be for some young people (especially from specific backgrounds) to break into the world of growing their careers. Youth Group seeks to both demystify this process and help those young people get a foothold in a realm that can be hard to break into.

Founded in London only four years ago by Jack Parsons and Leon Marseglia, Youth Group has had an impressive rise since launch. So far, it’s helped over 95,000 young people find their footing in their careers.

Youth Group seeks to demystify the employment process and help those young people get a foothold in a realm that can be hard to break into.

Unlike plenty in the talent sector, Youth Group prides itself on a simple pricing structure that makes it appealing to partners. It boasts some diverse partnerships, plus a young team who understand the struggles of today’s young people.

Youth Group isn’t just a touchpoint for young people seeking careers – it’s also in contact with businesses in need of labour resources. By matching businesses with young employees that fit their needs, all three parties stand to gain. In this way, Youth Group serves as a compassionate recruitment agency, looking to help those who are disenfranchised, while also serving a business’ best interests.

As for who Youth Group partners with, it’s made over 700 partnerships, including businesses such as Verizon and TalkTalk. It was once assisted by (then Chancellor) Rishi Sunak, who helped with the KickStart Scheme, which allowed thousands of young people to enter the workforce.

Youth Group's young team understand the struggles of today’s young people.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Youth Group, of course. They had an early struggle when finding out how to make their business digitally accessible, especially for a business that is so heavily tied to the human experience.

“The biggest challenge when starting was finding the right people with the right digital skills to digitalise the work we are doing. We overcame this by reaching out to digital experts who gave us good advice on building a strategy for finding the right people to help us turn our idea to digital reality,” said Parsons.

Youth Group doesn’t want to stay in its infancy forever, though. It aims to help a million young people every year, looking to make a tangible difference in youth unemployment in a sustainable way. 

By earning the trust of more and more businesses and young people, Youth Group wants to become a force in the world of youth recruitment for years to come.