Earlier this year, a casual discussion among colleagues led to us talking about the fact that none of us work in local government on purpose. We all place great value on the varied roles we now have, but none of us set out on a particular path to get here.

When I think about my own career, I reflect on the fact that social value is important to me, even if that wasn't always a conscious decision at the start. I think this is something the vast majority of local government officers have in common.

Local government is something that was a bit of a mystery to me until I was in it. It started me thinking about how powerful it could be if young people understood they could choose local government, rather than finding themselves here by accident like me and my colleagues.

The last few years have shown that people place a higher value on doing something meaningful than ever before, and it would be great for young people to view local government as a place they can really achieve this – almost in any field they choose. It is vital, given the shortage the sector is facing in crucial roles such as social care, as The MJ and Inner Circle Consulting's current #lovelocalgov campaign illustrates.

I decided to try to do something about this and to start seeking ways to engage young people about the possibility of local government careers.

Kingston has now partnered with the Social Mobility Business Partnership (SMBP), a charity that supports young people from low income backgrounds to pursue careers they might not otherwise have access to.

Earlier this month the council hosted its first cohort of young people. Along with a group of very willing colleagues, I set out to explain that local government goes way beyond bins and potholes.

Our Early Careers Network, formed of officers who are new to careers in local government, came along to host a speed networking session, providing real life examples of how they had found their route into local government, what they do and why it is important to them.

We were also grateful to be joined by one of our councillors, who attended to talk about what local politics is, why it matters, and why they chose to get involved.

We then spent an afternoon tackling the cost of living crisis. Divided into teams, we embarked on a hackathon, dealing with key issues in 10-minute slots resulting in a focused session where teams were asked to create a two-minute pitch to our executive director for place, Matthew Essex, to determine what top recommendation the council should implement.

The young people were phenomenal and were full of energy and enthusiasm. They came up with innovative ideas we are going to try and put into practice.

Their insights into what young people and their families experience when they're in crisis gave us really practical things that could be fairly easy to implement.

They have provided us with ideas that will make a real difference to the residents of Kingston.

We are going to keep in touch with them so we can let them know when and how we are implementing their ideas. Not only will this emphasise their time has been well-spent but it will also illustrate the value local government can make to communities and individual lives.

It is through illustrating this impact and demonstrating the dexterity within local government careers to respond to a community's needs – especially following seismic events such as COVID – that young people can be inspired about the roles on offer. After all, the potential for change and the scope to innovate are often the things that keep us in local government.

I hope it was an inspiring day for them, but I know for sure it was an inspiring day for me and colleagues who supported to make it happen. As a sector, we need to recognise the importance of demonstrating local government is a place where people can make a difference.

The work being done by The MJ and others towards a national #lovelocalgov campaign will help strengthen the understanding of what is truly great about local government and the impact it has on people every day.

At Kingston, we are confident our work with SMBP and our schools more generally, will help attract potential local government officers of the future – enticing them to become our champions and choosing our organisations as places through which they want to share and develop their talent.

Lauren McCann is general counsel at Kingston RLBC

@RBKingston