Advice to candidates- Y7 2021 Selection Process

Like many others, on Tuesday last week I found myself asking “Is it really December?” 

2020 has been a crazy year. February 2020 - those blissful days when we all did the morning commute, brought in communal cakes and crisps to share with our colleagues at the office, hugged our friends after a nice meal out at the pub - seems an eternity ago. But I also can’t escape the feeling that summer and autumn - as we grew accustomed to our new, distant and often virtual lifestyle - have flown by, perhaps because one day full of Zoom calls feels identical to the next. As a result, my internal time clock feels rather disoriented and I was surprised to find that the holiday season is already upon us.

I also found myself asking “Is it really December?” from a professional point of view. December traditionally marks the start of applications to represent the U.K. at the G7 and G20 Youth Summits, and that remains the case this year. And yet, it’s hard to believe we’re at that stage of the year again, as the pandemic (and various other political factors afoot in the world) have disrupted the annual G7/G20 rhythm - the G7 2020 hasn’t yet taken place (and likely won’t), and it feels as if we have only just closed the curtains on the world’s first virtual G20 which took place in late November.

Nonetheless, as with every December since I joined the Future Leaders Network back in 2016, I am brimming with excitement at what this month holds. Applications are now open for your chance to represent the U.K. at the G7 Youth Summit 2021. This is a phenomenal opportunity for young people to have their voice heard at the highest level of international decision making. As a delegate, you’ll represent your country, consult your fellow 11.1 million 18-30 year olds across the U.K., develop policy recommendations on their behalf and advocate those recommendations to global leaders. It’s a huge honour, but also a huge learning opportunity. I know my own experience as a Y7 delegate in Tokyo in 2016 has shaped my professional and personal career and I would not be who I am today without the skills, experience and amazing network I gained from that role.

Since joining  FLN, I’ve been passionate about increasing delegate diversity and ensuring that young people from all backgrounds get to experience the amazing opportunity I had. International politics affects all of us on a daily basis - from the price of a loaf of bread, to whether we’ll find a job in our community, to the places we choose or are able to go on holiday. That means that any young person aged 18 - 30 in the U.K. has real-world, lived experience that qualifies them to take an interest and an active role in international politics and subsequently the G7 Youth Summit.

I want to make clear to all prospective candidates that whoever you are, whatever your background, you are welcome - both as an applicant to the Y7/Y20 2021, and as a member of the Future Leaders Network. Leadership - like the leadership the delegates will display in their roles representing their country - is not innate, you are not ‘born with it’. Leadership is a set of skills and behaviours that are improved through practice. That practice can come from anywhere.

So, when you’re looking at the Essential Criteria in the role description, and asking yourself, “Have I got that?”, the answer is probably “Yes!” Over the years I’ve heard amazing examples of evidence for Essential Criteria from a huge range of backgrounds - from candidates’ experience as a member of a team sports club, from their part-time job in retail, from their time in education, or from a disaster family holiday. We encourage you to draw upon all of your experiences as a young person and to bring evidence to us from any part of your life. The skill developed in negotiating with your persistent younger sibling is, to us, equal to the skill developed in negotiating with suppliers in a big company. Bring it all, folks.

There is no such thing as an ‘ideal candidate’. You do not have to come from a certain part of the country, have a certain educational history, or be employed in a certain sector. Yes, we ask for those details at the start of the application process - but that’s only so we can carry out an anonymised equality assessment at each stage of the selection process to ensure we’re not disadvantaging young people from one community to another. Your assessor will never see that information - in fact, the assessment of the written application is entirely name- and background-blind. 

The only thing we do require is that you are aged 18-30, you are able to fully commit to the time commitment of the role (roughly 5 - 7 hours a week, for a full year), you’re able to attend the full length of the Summit (expected in May/June 2021) and that you are a U.K. citizen or hold a U.K. passport. 

We also encourage you to use the ‘STAR’ (Situation, Task, Action, Result) format in your answers, where appropriate. You’ll see that under each question, we’ve included the Essential Criteria we’ll be assessing you against. Help us out, make it clear how what you’re writing relates to what we’re looking for. One of our mantras in assessor training is “Evidence not assertions”. Don’t tell us “My interpersonal skills are off the charts” - that’s an assertion that we have no data to back up. Instead, give us a specific example of “A time when…” and give us lots of information about what you specifically did to achieve the result. You might think it’s boring and granular - but to us, it’s evidence which helps us to build a picture of how you might perform as a delegate.

Finally, if you’re worried about the policy recommendation element, just remember what we’re looking for is critical thinking and problem solving. We don’t really care about the subject matter of the issue you’re trying to solve - it could be tackling homelessness or reducing poverty, or it could be increasing the number of carrots your partner eats each day. What we’re looking for is that you’ve researched and properly diagnosed the problem; that you’ve evaluated other existing solutions; and that you can explain why your solution would work, hopefully referencing how it solves the issues that previous solutions didn’t. 

I know December this year will look a little bit different to December last year. I reckon 2021 will look a bit different to 2020 too, though I’m not sure yet quite how. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, and I know that can be very hard to handle. But there’s one thing you can be very certain of - you absolutely will not become a U.K. delegate if you don’t submit an application. So kick uncertainty up the butt, and, if you’re interested in changing the world, spend an hour writing your application. You never know what might happen!

Apply to become a Y7 2021 Delegate here!