Young British Sikhs to be given a helping hand this Vaisakhi

Professional Sikhs embark on their own strategy to encourage and promote social mobility

The City Sikhs Network will be celebrating Vaisakhi by rolling out its highly successful networking and mentoring programme throughout the country. Launched only 6 months ago, the City Sikhs Network (CSN) has already helped over 250 people in terms of introducing them to students, graduates and professionals from across a wide range of industries, and CSN now has a membership of almost 600 people.

Vaisakhi is celebrated by Sikhs annually on 14th April, and it marks the birth of the Khalsa (the fellowship of baptised Sikhs) as well as the Sikh new year. It is the most important festival in the Sikh calendar. In a survey conducted by CSN to mark Vaisakhi, only 36% of graduates feel secure in their current employment and 75% of students are anxious about their future career plans.

Param Singh, a CSN Director, considers there to be a strong demand amongst young people to be given appropriate career guidance. He said Social mobility is a growing concern in British society, as is evident by Nick Clegg’s speech on Tuesday. The needs of Second and Third Generation Sikhs in the UK are far different to those of our parents and grandparents who came to the country as immigrants. We are giving a helping hand to those young men and women to be the best they can be and to show them that there is no glass ceiling when it comes to career and personal development.

Jasvir Singh, also a CSN Director, said The Sikh community has had a presence in the UK for over 150 years, and throughout that time, we have been a hard working part of British society. What we at CSN are doing is ensuring that the legacy of those pioneering British Sikhs continues to the present day and beyond.

Although CSN is based within the Sikh community, its resources are open to all people regardless of race, religion and gender so as to reflect the teachings of the Sikh gurus. In order to meet the demand amongst young people from all communities for targeted career advice, mentoring and professional networking across all industries, CSN shall be holding networking events on the following dates and at the following towns:

Friday 22nd April 2011 Southall

Saturday 23rd April 2011 Birmingham

Saturday 30th April 2011 Leicester

Wednesday 11th May 2011 St Paul’s, London

Thursday 19th May 2011 Liverpool Street, London