3.1

icould

icould.com is a free, independent online resource which offers people of all ages ideas, direction, inspiration and hope for their futures. In this time of economic uncertainty, icould.com is a portal and support network for people who have the desire to change their futures. It will continue to grow and develop, with a current showcase of around a thousand individual filmed stories from real people in real jobs from all employment sectors.

"I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do in the future and am not sure where or who I can go to for guidance. There's so much competition to find work, I find the whole prospect of finding a job terrifying. icould.com sounds like a great idea - I love the fact that all you have to do is log on to get direct access to real people's experiences in the workplace."

Samuel Lucas, aged 16, from Coventry

It is founded on the belief that a person's experiences, of the labour market and throughout other aspects of their lives, can help to inform and inspire others in similar personal circumstances or who are looking to work in similar careers.

We believe icould stands out from the crowd as it focuses on the career story - not just the storyteller's current job or employer.

CRAC's approach took into account:

  • the need to provide a broad base of jobs, sectors, levels of qualification and diversity of personal background - providing something of interest for all potential users of icould
  • the different ways in which a user might approach their career information search
  • supporting users to explore the next step.

As such, we worked with sector skills councils, professional bodies, employers, schools, colleges, universities and many other experts to inform and create the product.

Over 1000 individuals were interviewed in the course of building icould. Each completed film was analysed for key information - such as influences and personal circumstances which impacted upon their career decisions. Alongside this storytellers were asked to provide some information about themselves in a questionnaire, which provided another set of criteria for search purposes.

The site was developed to allow users to search by all kinds of factors based on the information taken from the films and from the questionnaires. To reflect this, there are several types of search function users can explore, depending on the user's own preferences.

We also developed a personalised area of the site, providing users with the opportunity to personalise and save their searches as well as to save favourite films and themes.

We are now working with a wide variety of partners and supporters to maximise the benefits that can be gained from the labour market experience provided by the icould films.