Back in February 2017, JobCentre Plus referred a very nervous John to Growing Talent’s 12th programme.
At the time John had very little employment experience and pretty low self-esteem.
Everything I asked him to do on Growing Talent, was completely outside his comfort zones especially the public speaking and presentations.
He pushed through that fear and nailed everything! John secured his ring-fenced permanent role with a records management company.
Attending the end of year event, John strolled into the room, in a suit matched with at the biggest beaming smile.
Today, he got in touch with me again. He is still with the same employer but now a Team Leader encouraging others. He sent me the picture of his Growing Talent badge that he still has seven years later!
Inspiring to learn today a hybrid version of @Growing_Talent ran during the height of #Covid in Sept 2020 was so successful.
Chloe, Courtney, Shelley, Sophia, Ryan and Vanessa are still onboard 2 years later!
They took a chance on Growing Talent with great results for them and their London employer – a global financial services firm.
Being unemployed is tough. Getting employers to see you for your skills, abilities and attributes rather than your label ‘single parent’, ‘unemployed’ etc seems impossible.
Exciting meeting with @DavidSteeds & @Maddiemum @JCPinSthLondon yesterday planning @Growing_Talent 2023. Four programmes will run throughout the year enabling forward planning for all involved. Targeting London based employers and unemployed people looking for a different journey into work.
In these challenging times, now more than ever this unique collaboration is needed to deliver positive results to all.
Thanks to all involved over 9yrs Growing Talent has run changing lives by delivering real social mobility
What will the next year hold for Growing Talent?????
Who knows! One thing is for sure, we’re ready to roll that bowling ball!
Growing Talent has predominantly run within nuclear parts of national/international employers providing on site services to Growing Talent’s funders.
This started to change yesterday with the ‘King of Connections’ – also known as Andy at ISS, a strong supporter of Growing Talent, who connected Growing Talent with Anna, relatively new to the position of Head of Social Value at ISS in a meeting yesterday.
Anna’s clear interest in the uniqueness of Growing Talent was amplified by ISS’s ‘Empathy Envoy’, also known as Melinda, who joined us to share with Anna some of the experiences her team had encountered and the life changing differences they had been part of – all in addition to their day jobs.
Andy explained to Anna that accounts outside the funders could take part and make a real difference to those that need a chance as well as gaining a positive impact on their team.
Anna agreed to attend our Recognition and Relaunch Event in January and said she would spread the word to decision makers along with Andy.
Within an hour, I’d received accepted invitations from some of these decision makers to attend! How awesome is that?
The power of people who make things happen rather than just talk the talk is awesome and makes such a critical difference to those vulnerable people on the Growing Talent journey – especially during these tough economic times!
For many global companies, taking part in Growing Talent is a challenge because it disrupts the global recruitment policies in place.
Growing Talent is a mentoring journey for both employers and their potential unemployed new talent which delivers a mutual ‘test drive’ to see if the permanent role on offer is right for both parties.
Due to the unique partnership over nine years with JobCentre Plus in the UK, participants retain their benefits, have their travel paid, get paid by the employer, undergo a week of orientation and holistic workshops including qualification in the accredited i-act Managing and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing aligning with ISO45003 psychological safety in the workplace and a dedicated mentor for the journey. This raises their empowerment and confidence before they start the four week mutual test drive with their employer.
What’s not to like?
With all these positive elements to Growing Talent, Lauren had a role she knew would be appropriate. After securing UK managements’ approval, she then had to tackle the European heads! No easy task – but she did it!
Lauren made it happen and you can see just how confident and awesome Lee is from the photo above with Lauren. Feed back from Lauren and her team is Lee is learning so quickly and picking up things fast. He’s a positive addition to the team – and this is just a few days into the journey! From Lee’s view, he’s enjoying it and has no complaints.
It not easy to start a new job during train strikes – but Lee made it happen too!
Vision, determination and passion = positive real results. So, let’s all ‘make it happen’!
Amongst very many others. Of course the smallest detail can have the biggest impact so it’s important to know what the goal is of the event upfront. Then it’s easy to work out the intricacies such as budgets, speakers, awards/gifts etc.
Luckily, the unique event I’m planning is the Recognition and Relaunch of Growing Talent – neither has been done before.
Pre Covid, we held annual graduation ceremonies for everyone who had completed Growing Talent over the previous year coming together in London to celebrate with their respective employers.
Covid brought many changes across the board for everyone – in work and at home. Whilst we switched to virtual delivery for an employer who was looking to hire in permanent national roles working from home, the traditional route to employment outside the home has changed.
The two years plus of uncertainty we lived under during Covid, didn’t end when the heat of Covid diminished. Covid was quickly followed by the war in Ukraine, the consumer crisis, and now the prospect of rising taxes, meaning the pool of talented unemployed people who want to work has dwindled, leaving employers with multiple roles to fill.
This lack of confidence on both sides needs a unique tool to bring each together. That tool for many will be Growing Talent.
Earlier this year, Growing Talent was revised to make clear benefits for both the employer and prospective employee. Below are the highlights for each:
We have some confirmed speakers already for the event on 16 January 2023 including:
David – senior group manager for London and Essex at DWP. David has been instrumental for years in supporting the flexibilities needed for Growing Talent to be a success within JobCentre Plus and spread the word amongst his large, diverse, geographically spread team.
Jamie & Pedro – known to Growing Talent as the ‘dream team’. Supporting and cheerleading Growing Talent since the beginning, they have put their heart and integrity into guiding everyone they’ve met on Growing Talent over the years into some awesome careers. Not easy to do when you have a booming successful recruitment branch to run as they do with Pertemps and Red Personnel in London. They will be sharing why they do this from an employers viewpoint.
Ella from MasterFix Properties will be speaking from a dual view. Earlier this year, Ella was selected to join Growing Talent by Paul, Head of Talent at MasterFix who was looking for a Talent Co-Ordinator to join his team. After successfully completely Growing Talent, Ella returned with Paul to the next programme to select more talent to join the London team.
The line-up of this unique event will of course grow over the coming weeks.
A schedule will be published of when Growing Talent will run in 2023 giving time to employers, JobCentre Plus and the charities we work with to prepare.
If you are a London based employer with permanent roles to fill in 2023 and want to recruit a more diverse way, why not get in touch to find out more?
Test driving anything before you commit to it makes logical sense – doesn’t it?
Why doesn’t this apply to a job?
Well, it does at Growing Talent. A role is ring fenced upfront for you which you train in before being employed. Learning all aspects of the role, team, client, culture of the business before being employed.
After selection and before going on site, a week long ‘boot camp’ of empowering workshops are delivered, building confidence and a qualification in positive mental health and wellbeing.
In addition to being paid by the employer during this ‘test drive’ period you retain your benefits and have your travel paid.
What’s not to like?
To apply: must be over 18, have Right to Work in the UK documents in place and be able to give details for a minimum three year checkable history. For the global course in mental health and wellbeing, access to a desktop/laptop is crucial.
All jobs are permanent, based in Central London within corporate or operational environments
Interested to learn more? Join our virtual information session – details in the feature pic.
Friday 17 June was a balmy, sunny and sticky day in London. Temperatures were high so was the positive energy in this room as our Employer Speed Dating session got underway.
This is the first selection stage of Growing Talent which removes the potential for assumptions to be made by removing cvs and formal interviews. This enables the real person to be seen rather than any ‘labels’ they may have.
For employers, it enables a collaborative, unique way to tap into a hidden talent pool bringing diversity, inclusion, commitment and belonging into their business – which can only be good, right?
Passionate employers driven to uncover diverse talent for their roles that they can grow and nurture to be empowered employees defied the heat of the trains to get to our venue at London Bridge. Let’s face it, they could have given their roles to traditional agencies – wouldn’t that be easier? Probably, but easier isn’t always best!
Some had taken part previously and knew the fun ahead. For some, it was a completely new experience! No cv? No formal interview? No Job Description? What a leap of faith they took to step out of their comfort zone to join us!
Equally impressive was the integrity and commitment of the fabulously talented, but currently unemployed applicants who arrived enthusiastic, keen to meet employers without the shackles of traditional recruitment but unsure what was going to happen and of course a little glowing from their journeys!
What gave me the biggest kick was seeing Ella and Kieran from previous Growing Talent programmes now employer side! How fabulous is that!
There’s always a little tweak to be done in the setting up of these events. As usual the amazing Julie from #Portico Welcome Team was on hand to help me! Of course, on the front desk welcoming everyone to the event was Alex – from a previous Growing Talent programme! #inspiring for the applicants.
Within minutes of entering the room to start the timed table changes – the chatter and laughter was rising as any nerves melted away.
Ricky & Sharon from #RestoreHarrowGreen seeking new talent for their diverse roles.
Lois #SwissPostSolutions & Lesley from the global financial services organisation that sponsors Growing Talent joining us to explore some potential NEBOSH H&S Executives. Both have been involved in Growing Talent from the start and of course gave tips and pointers to those they saw who didn’t quite know what to say at first.
Ella and Paul of Master-FixProperties looking for fabulous new talent to join their business. Ella of course could give some insight of the Growing Talent journey that lies ahead for those going forward.
Michael #ISS looking for new talent to join his team
Laura & Emma #OfficeConcierge joining us for the first time to look for those hidden gems of talent we have amongst our unemployed communities.
Soraya, Kieran and Rosie #SPS looking for a new team member. Like Ella, Kieran has been on the Growing Talent journey and knows what it’s like. Although when Kieran did it, Growing Talent was three months long not five weeks!
Rosie is part of Lois’s team at SPS. Together they have given opportunities to around 38 people through Growing Talent since the first programme in early 2014. Many are still there and in supervisory positions.
Always time for one more photo! – Anna – longstanding cheerleader from JobCentre Plus, Ella and Paul #MasterFix and Sharon #RestoreHarrowGreen. Over the years, Sharon has taken over 30 people into her business and watched them grow and develop.
This week sees the second selection stage take place with 1-2-1s – mainly virtual thanks to the rail strike! Nothing detracts Growing Talent – there is always a way!
Looking forward to meeting these fabulous employers this week are: Abbas, Alex, Dimitrios, Edward, Frank, Martin, Rosanna, Shari and Sharon.
Check back to find out how they get on.
Growing Talent is a collaborative way for employers and their unemployed communities to come together on a level playing field journey to permanent jobs. Find out more on the Growing Talent tab on this website or check out http://www.growing-talent.co.uk.
