That was one of the strongest themes from the latest Creative Industries Local Skills Improvement Plan conversation, hosted at Adlib.

Employers and education providers discussed digital and AI capability, fusion skills, freelancer business skills, leadership and management, and strengthening the talent pipeline.

But the conversation quickly moved beyond a traditional discussion about skills shortages.

Rethinking work readiness

There was a clear view that we need to be careful about describing younger people as disengaged or unprepared for work.

For many, the challenge is not a lack of ambition. It can be uncertainty, confidence, fear of failure or navigating an increasingly complex range of choices around university, apprenticeships and employment.

That creates a shared responsibility.

Young people need support to understand the workplace, but employers and educators also need to understand how the next generation thinks, learns and builds confidence.

Turning skills into real experience

AI was an important part of the discussion, particularly the gap between how young people encounter it in education and how businesses are beginning to use it in the workplace.

Closing that gap requires more practical experience, and there are already examples across the city region showing how things can be done differently.

GoodShip*’s AI Activator connects participants with real organisational challenges, using AI alongside research, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and presentation. The technology is the entry point, but the wider outcomes are confidence, problem-solving and experience of tackling real work.

InnovateHer is approaching the pipeline from another important direction, connecting girls and young people with digital skills, industry role models and employers, with programmes designed to improve confidence and open up pathways into technology careers. InnovateHer says it has now reached more than 125,000 girls, women and non-binary young people across the UK through its learning, AI programmes and events.

Liverpool’s Girls With Dreams Club tackles another part of the same challenge: aspiration and self-belief. Through workshops, experiences, local role models and community, it works with girls aged 11–17 to build confidence, curiosity, creativity, resilience and leadership before many of those critical education and career decisions are made.

These are different programmes, but there is a common thread.

Skills matter, but so do confidence, exposure, networks and the opportunity to apply what you learn.

More routes into the creative industries

Apprenticeships, work experience and workplace learning were strongly supported throughout the conversation.

For many specialist creative businesses, formal education cannot teach every skill they require. Adlib is a good example, developing specialist talent internally and looking for passion, potential and willingness to learn alongside qualifications.

But traditional work experience can also be difficult for businesses to deliver, particularly for under-18s where safeguarding, insurance and administration can become barriers.

The answer may be greater flexibility.

Short placements, live employer projects, industry insight days, mentoring, employer visits and hybrid education/workplace models can all give young people meaningful exposure to industries they may otherwise never encounter.

You cannot aspire to a career you do not know exists.

SMEs need to be part of the solution

This matters particularly in Liverpool City Region, where so much of the creative economy consists of SMEs and microbusinesses.

Small businesses may want to recruit apprentices, provide placements or invest in future talent, but the real cost goes beyond wages.

Training, mentoring and supervision require time that might otherwise be spent delivering work for clients.

If we want more businesses involved, we need to reduce the risk and friction of participating.

That could mean funding, incentives, training support and stronger partnerships between employers and education providers.

It is an ecosystem challenge

The discussion reinforced that solving the creative skills challenge will require more than creating new courses.

We need digital and AI capability, but we also need communication, commercial awareness, leadership, confidence and people who can move between creative, technical and business disciplines.

We need stronger connections between education and employers.

We need earlier exposure to the careers available across our creative economy.

And we need to make it viable for smaller businesses to help develop future talent.

Most importantly, we do not have to start from scratch.

Organisations across Liverpool City Region are already experimenting with different approaches.

The opportunity is to connect what works, make it easier for employers to participate and build a skills ecosystem that can adapt as quickly as the creative industries themselves.