Eleven years ago, I graduated from Swansea University and spent a few months feeling completely lost. What on earth was I going to do with my life?
I can resonate with what young people are experiencing right now in the youth unemployment crisis because I've been there.
But I was eventually fortunate enough to secure my first proper job: a trainee recruitment consultant in Cardiff. And I felt it almost immediately. My confidence grew. I had a sense of purpose. I started saving for my own flat and my own car.
But it didn't last. I got stressed. I didn't feel like I belonged. I felt I had no autonomy.
Little did I know that eleven years later, those feelings: confidence, purpose, belonging, autonomy, and stress, would become the five core outcomes of Talent Yfory: Wales' first early careers social value index.
By measuring these outcomes before and after employment, and applying Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology, I set out to quantify what good early careers provision does for young people.
After engaging with hundreds of young people across Wales, the 2026 findings were clear: structured pathways work. Apprenticeships generate around £14,000 in wellbeing value. Graduate programmes produce around £10,000. Unstructured entry-level roles? £7,000. The gap isn't small and it matters.
I've spent most of my career in Wales' early careers ecosystem: as a recruiter, within a regional skills partnership, and with an early careers job board. Wales is not short of activity in this space. Everyone knows what needs to be done. But until now, nobody was evidencing why it works.
That's why I built Hatch Consultancy: to turn early careers investment into measurable return: for people, employers, educators, and the public purse.
Talent Yfory is the evidence base for that.
It's also a benchmark of what "good" looks like. And if we can define what good looks like, we can inspire more employers to offer it.
If young people are going to have the best possible chance of succeeding in life, they need a good start: a quality role that improves their wellbeing and makes them want to stay. The data shows that when employers invest in structured, high-quality pathways, everyone benefits: candidates thrive, retention improves, and productivity follows.
From 2027, the Talent Yfory Index will be the evidence base for good practice in early careers provision. The awards will be the chance to celebrate it: together, in one room, and to inspire more employers to raise the bar.
Over the coming weeks, I'll be announcing the Talent Yfory founding partner group: a cohort of organisations already doing "good" in this space, who are helping to shape the index and awards going forward. I'm delighted that we already have some fantastic organisations confirmed.
If you'd like to get involved, reach out. I'd love to hear from you.
