LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Sherry Coutu CBE, investor and founder of the Scale-up Institute, took to the stage at London’s Guildhall earlier this year to launch Sherry’s latest project, Workfinder – a platform to help young people to find meaningful work experience.
The morning brought leaders together to discuss how business and education can join forces to inspire the next generation.
With 300 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is the largest professional network in the world, so Reid knows a thing or two about the importance of connections. He and Sherry discussed the merits of work experience for young people and businesses alike.
“It is opportunity as well as duty” he told Seven Hills co-founder Michael Hayman. “More companies need to see work experience as important for society, business and the morale of employees”
“Business needs to provide meaningful work experience,” explained Sherry. “We all have it in us to think about something interesting we can put into a project.”
The conversation ranged from the use of technology to democratise work experience, to the responsibility that scaling companies have to employ more young people as they grow. The debate also covered the role of education in encouraging and inspiring young people to engage with work experience.
The event concluded with a rallying cry from Sherry to businesses everywhere: “It’s up to us as a society and individuals to solve this… and this is a problem worth solving!”
Watch the full interview here.