Leeds Digital Careers Festival held a weeklong roadshow of activities taking place 12-16 September 2022, as a lead up to the annual Leeds Digital Festival. The festival included school and community engagement sessions, and a headline careers and recruitment event held at the Leeds First Direct Arena. As part of the Future Talent Plan, LDCF aimed to attract a diverse range of people to learn more about the vast range of digital opportunities within Leeds and encourage people new to the sector to consider a career in digital. There was a focus on attracting diverse talent into the digital sector throughout the festival week.
LDCF engaged with 3000 people over the festival week.
Careers & Recruitment event
The main event was held at Leeds First Direct Arena, 15 September, 2 - 7pm
- 1700 visitors attended
- 51 exhibitors attended which included employers and training providers with digital employment and training opportunities
- 12 mini speaker sessions took place giving visitors insight into digital careers
- 'Get hired in tech' workshops were delivered throughout the event
89% of attendees said the event made them more likely to start a career in digital.
Diversity & Inclusion
A target of LDCF was to increase interest in digital careers from diverse groups, from evaluation following the headline event over 52% identified as non-white ethnicity. 49% of ticket bookings were female, which is higher than the average male to female ratio of tech workers, and the event attracted people from all age ranges.
A playlist of the event digital careers speaker sessions can be found via the button below:
Community and School Roadshow
Digital businesses in the city were involved in conducting a roadshow of activities to include talks to secondary schools, 6th form and FE colleges to inspire young people to embark on a career in digital.
- 17 school sessions were delivered
- 1269 young people engaged
Community engagement events took place in various community locations across Leeds to demonstrate the range of digital roles, current and future opportunities, skills needs and pathways into the sector, focusing on our harder to reach community groups.
- Over 90 residents engaged with community digital skills session
- 6 locations and 14 sessions over the summer and festival week
Event sponsors and supporters
