Date: 06/04/2022
Your Name: Samantha Hornsby
Position: CEO
Solution Name: ERIC
Legal Structure: Private Limited Company
Main Funding Source: Private investment
Phase(s) of Education: 14-19
Number of Students: 5,000
Purposes of Education supported: Career education
Solution Description:
The ERIC App is a free career content platform for students & schools. We save students and schools time by doing the online searching for career resources and tools for them and then providing them with a data-driven feedback loop of what content, messages and methods their students are responding to best. We scan the internet for all the best career guidance content, categorise it and link/embed it all on The ERIC App and make it easy to find, compare and choose the right content for any specific need and situation, within seconds and track what students are responding to, spending time on and interacting with so schools can learn how to improve and waste less budget and time. The ERIC App also hosts a directory of employers who want to connect with schools and
students.
Solution Origin:
The ERIC App was founded by Mae Yip and Samantha Hornsby. Through their experience running career fairs (pre-
pandemic), they noticed how much time students and career advisors/leaders spend searching the internet, trying to find relevant career guidance content, opportunities, industry information and employer contacts. They also realised how little schools knew about what career education techniques work best as there is such limited data being collected in the space. They realised that both of these issues can be eliminated and the solution standardised, simply by creating a product that organises the chaos of career content and opportunities that are currently spread across the internet and tracks what students are interacting with.
Potential for systemic impact (EXCLUDING Equity)?
Success for us would be to reduce the time students and schools spend trying to find relevant career resources, tools, employers and content by 50% and for schools to be provided with an option of learning how to improve on a daily basis. If this solution were widely adopted, we would see a more structured career education system, with more budget and time being spent on quality one-on-one time with students to give them a better career education experience. We would also see continuously improved career education techniques,
as the data we are collecting acts as a feedback loop for schools to be able to learn how their students are responding to different methods, messaging and strategies.
Does the solution improve Equity? How?
This app is a free product for any student or school across the UK to be able to use. The quality of your career education is currently a lottery, depending on what school you go to and how much access you have as a student to a variety of adults around you who are in different career paths - which means that the majority of students are only exposed to a very limited number of industries and job roles. This app is a way for any student in any location and from any background to explore their career options in a way that is inspiring and presents opportunities in an accessible way. This democratisation of career accessibility will change the way future generations see
their career options forever - no career will be off-limits.
Barriers to adoption relating to Accountability Rules and Funding Formulae:
N/A
Other barriers to adoption:
We are currently starting in a specific selection of industries (the 16 different creative industries), so the app has a response barrier based on that. We are planning on eventually spanning across all industries. The app is currently for 16+, however we are working on a
website version which will be available to under 16s.