East Anglian business leaders are lending a hand to young people in two of the region's biggest urban centres to inspire and prepare them for the world of work.

Companies including Aviva, East of England Coop and Ipswich Building Society have made the commitment as part of a pledge to help improve social mobility in 'opportunity areas' designated by the government, including Norwich and Ipswich.

Under the scheme, all pupils aged 11 to 18 will have access to at least four 'inspiring' workplace encounters, which research has found to reduce young people's chances of being NEET (not in education, employment or training) after leaving school by 86%.

Also, 21 secondary schools and colleges in Ipswich and 10 in Norwich will have access to a senior business volunteer, who will work with school management to advise them on their careers programmes and help forge local business relationships.

Dayle Bayliss, of construction consultants Dayle Bayliss Associates near Capel St Mary, which is taking part in the scheme, says young people should not feel a career path has to be rigid and should open themselves up to opportunities for change.

Her interest in construction led her to begin training as an architect after leaving school, but she left the course – which was 'not right for me' – to take up a local authority building surveying role.

She said the twists in her career path have often resulted from meeting 'inspiring' people.

'The great thing about construction and other trades is most of us would have come through an apprenticeship or been doing a degree part-time while in that world of work,' she said.

'It is not always experiences – a lot of us will have key people who held our hand and showed us the ropes.

'This is our time to give back what we have experienced.'

She added that young people should broaden their searches to include the multitudes of small and medium-sized (SME) businesses in Norfolk and Suffolk, rather than just big-hitters such as BT.

The business commitment to opportunity areas – of which there are 12 in the UK – has been backed by leading lobbying groups including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), who will work with government organisation the Careers and Enterprise Company to encourage their members to offer more opportunities to young people through work experience, mentoring and career talks.