How the Work Programme is helping young people into work
Jade’s story
Although Jade had a BTEC qualification in care, she had been unable to find a job in this sector after trying for over a year and had started to feel demoralised by her lack of success.
"Ingeus helped me because they were always willing to see me. They helped me find websites that I had never heard of and gave me other ideas on how to look for a job."
She joined the Work Programme with Ingeus, where her adviser helped her to improve her CV. She also attended their “Job Search Workshop” which helped her discover how to search for the kind of jobs that matched her skills. To build her confidence she took part in interview preparation and mock interview sessions.
Jade’s adviser helped her make speculative phone calls to care homes and nurseries to show her interest and skills. From this activity she generated six job leads and an interview. Five weeks after joining the Work Programme, she started work as a care assistant and is receiving the vital training and experience she needs to reach her future ambition as a senior carer.
Rebecca's story
Rebecca Glover graduated from Nottingham Trent University this year and to tide her over financially, she took a part-time job at Starbucks while she applied for posts or unpaid placements in her chosen career. Unfortunately, despite her efforts, she was unable to secure any position, but let Rebecca take up her story herself:
"Eventually, the hours at Starbucks started dwindling and I started claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance. After a couple of weeks signing on at my local Jobcentre Plus, I was told about an eight week unpaid placement at Serco. I sent my CV over and immediately Googled the company. I had no idea how much support it (Serco) offers public services and how widespread its work is."
Serco asked her in for an informal chat, Rebecca was very pleased, but understandably a “little nervous”. She was shown around and it was great news for Rebecca when she was later offered the placement.
On her first day she attended some meetings, and was introduced to a couple of projects that she would be working on. One project involves the production of a Service Catalogue to act as marketing material, whilst another is a “Links with Schools” project. Rebecca added:
"By doing this, I am building my skill-set as well as my confidence. My general office/secretarial skills are improving and I am also getting the opportunity to edit content on the intranet and contribute to the monthly internal newsletter. It’s safe to say that I was thrown in at the deep end and I am really enjoying it."
Rebecca is also very positive about the partnership between Serco and Jobcentre Plus which she thinks is a “brilliant idea that more companies should adopt”. Rebecca also feels that a lot of employers are reluctant to offer jobs to candidates as they don’t have enough experience, whilst at the same time as being “reluctant to offer any experience” which is, of course, what is needed in the first place. The support provided by her Work Experience placement with Serco will help Rebecca reach her goal.