Posted on: 22/07/2025

Thought Leadership

Facing an ageing workforce and growing skills gaps, local government must act now to secure future talent. Through regional collaboration and initiatives like the Learn Live broadcast and Public Sector: I ?? You podcast, WME is helping councils inspire young people to consider purposeful careers in the sector. By embedding outreach into strategy and sharing resources, councils can build a sustainable, diverse workforce to meet community needs.

By Chloe Herrmann, Principal Consultant – Resourcing

Local government is at a crossroads. We’re facing an ageing workforce, growing skills gaps, and real competition from the private sector for young talent. Nearly 14% of our workforce will retire by 2027, and 9 in 10 councils are already struggling to fill vacancies. The challenge is clear, but so is the opportunity.

If we’re serious about building the talent our communities need, we can’t tackle this in isolation. We have to work together across the region, and we have to inspire young people before we even think about recruiting them. That means making sure local government careers are on their radar, and in their ambitions, long before they start looking for their first job.

The Power of Collective Outreach

A powerful example of this approach in action was our recent ‘Learn Live Broadcast’ where WMJobs partnered with the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and their Careers Hub. An important ambition of the Hub is to ensure all young people across the region have the opportunity to hear more about jobs in different sectors to make informed decisions on their next best step or pathway. Together, we’re helping young people understand the breadth of opportunity in local government and in turn supporting councils to build diverse, sustainable talent pipelines for the future.

Featuring passionate professionals at different stages of their careers, from Executive Assistants to Chief Executives, the broadcast helped break stereotypes and showcase the purpose-driven roles available in our councils.

By pooling resources, sharing stories, and delivering a unified regional message, we’re reaching a greater number of people than we would alone. To secure our future workforce, we must take this kind of collective action further and embed it into our long-term talent strategies.

This work directly supports the aims of our West Midlands Local Government Workforce Strategy 2025-27 and WME Strategic Plan 2025-2030, which set out a shared vision for improving career desirability, leading collaboration, and inspiring innovation across our region’s public sector workforce.

Learn Live: Bringing Local Government careers to life

The Learn Live broadcast aired on 15th July reached 11980 students, teachers, parents and carers across the West Midlands — showcasing real people, real careers, and real purpose in local government. The broadcast featured six passionate professionals from councils across the region:

• Stephen Gabriel, Chief Executive, Tamworth Borough Council
• Kiran Brach, Communications Business Partner: Staff Engagement and Culture - Resources and Transformation, Walsall Council
• Aman Sandhu, Executive Assistant in Children’s Services, City of Wolverhampton Council
• Michelle Hopper, Neighbourhood Delivery Manager, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council
• George Brown, Senior Business Support Officer – Business & Executive Support, Staffordshire County Council
• Daisy Killian, Assistant Building Surveyor, Warwick District Council

Together, they shared their personal journeys, day-to-day roles, and what they love about working in the public sector helping students to see the variety of meaningful, community-focused careers that exist in our councils. By working in partnership across the region, we created a unified voice to promote local government as a career destination which is a key priority of our regional workforce strategy.

The broadcast will remain live for 12 months and you can view it here https://careersliveuk.com/partner/west-midlands-combined-authority/ 

Alongside Learn Live, we’re using platforms like the Public Sector: I HEART You podcast to keep these conversations going. By sharing leadership journeys in a way that really resonates, the challenges, the rewards, and what drives our people, we’re helping young people connect with the human side of local government.

How WME is helping shape the talent pipeline

We All Need The Learn Live broadcast and Public Sector: I HEART You podcast are part of something bigger. This is a regional movement to rethink how we inspire, attract and support the next generation of local government talent. It’s not about isolated projects. It’s about working together to change the story we tell about local government careers and making that story resonate.

Right now, that means focusing on what really matters.

Equipping schools and teachers with practical, ready-to-use careers resources that show the reality and purpose of working in local government. It’s not just about job titles; it’s about the difference people make every day.

Amplifying regional and national campaigns that connect directly with young people at scale. Our aim is to put local government on the radar in places it hasn’t been before.

Showing up where young people already are. Whether at youth summits, in schools or at community events, we want them to see local government as a place to thrive and grow.

Embedding outreach in workforce planning. Outreach shouldn’t be seen as an add-on. It needs to be part of how we build a future-ready, diverse and resilient workforce.

These aren’t extras or nice-to-haves. They are essential if we want to future-proof our sector. At WME, we are committed to leading this change. Not by going it alone, but by working side by side with partners who share our ambition to create something better.

Why It Matters: A Strategic Workforce Priority

The Learn Live broadcast, our podcast, and wider outreach aren’t just good ideas — they respond to an urgent reality:

• Our region’s workforce is ageing, with 13.8% set to retire by 2027.
• Skills gaps in digital, social care, planning and other key areas are growing.
• Too few young people are aware of the breadth and purpose of careers in local government.
• Competition from the private sector is increasingly targeting the same talent pools

With 25% more 18-year-olds entering the workforce by 2030, now is the time to act. As our Strategic Plan makes clear, outreach like this is not a nice-to-have, it’s essential to securing the future workforce our communities need.

How to leverage regional workforce initiatives

This is a collective effort, and there are steps every council can take right now:

Share your stories: Contribute your people and experiences to future regional campaigns

Leverage resources: Use ready-made careers education materials in your outreach activities

Attend events: Attend job fairs and events to meet potential future employees

Support staff development: Their involvement in outreach builds pride, confidence, and skills in your teams

And in the longer-term:

Workforce planning: Build outreach into long-term talent strategy

Budget efficiency: Leverage shared regional resources rather than developing individual programmes

Pipeline tracking: Connect outreach activities to future recruitment metrics

Partnership development: Strengthen relationships with education providers. The Learn Live broadcast shows what’s possible when we work together.

By acting now, and together, we can inspire young people to see local government as a place where they can make a difference, develop their talents, and build meaningful careers.

Ready to shape the future workforce? The combination of strategic outreach, regional collaboration, and sustained engagement can transform your talent pipeline for years to come.

Access the Learn Live Broadcast  Request your Local Government Careers Resources 

Public Sector I HEART You Podcast View Strategic Plan