success

The World of Property Investment….

Jane JamesLeave a comment

Growing Talent 12 (www.growing-talent.co.uk) is now firmly underway.  Reports so far are all good.

 

Yesterday I visited Sebastien who has a background in sales, abroad and at home.  With a passion for property but no experience he was a strong fit for Invest In Buy To Let who selected him to join them via the Growing Talent programme.

 

Two weeks in – the shine is not wearing off!  Cold calling, researching and evening events have meant Sebastien has been able to work with multiple people and learn quicker in situ.  He’s building his own client contacts and formulating strong relationships.

 

Luckily, Silin from Growing Talent 10 works for Shane, one of the directors in his other business Create A Business.  Based at the same venue, she can give Sebastien the encouragement doing the programme demands.

 

It always amazes me how some people write off those who are unemployed without knowing their stories, personalities etc.  Everyone on Growing Talent has to work full-time – often unsociable hours – for no money other than their benefits.  Grated, at the end there is a permanent job on offer where both employer and new employee have a confident match.  But the journey to that goal can be quite gruelling – especially the longer you’ve been out of work or the more negative, discouraging voices you have around you!

 

It takes a lot of tenacity and integrity to complete Growing Talent – definitely not for the faint hearted!

‘I’m finally a working man again’, Alenchenu

Jane JamesLeave a comment

20150420_120819

Alenchenu, without even knowing it, is sitting next to his future boss!  Taken from the Employers’ Selection & Assessment day for Growing Talent 5 on 24 April.   He’s in the electric blue shirt with Pauline of Mitie Total Document Solutions on his left.  Pauline manages the Service Solution desk for Mitie at PwC’s prestigious offices in Embankment Place.  She was impressed with Alenchenu’s style of communicating.  He listened to the questions and answered with passion.

Alenchenu is a giant of a man with a heart full of passion and empathy for others.  With a Pastor father, he is used to travelling to new congregations and joined Growing Talent to secure a steady job to give him independence.  Alenchenu’s passion for others showed in the Social Enterprise idea he devised and presented with his team partner Shennell.  Through his father’s work, Alenchenu had supported vulnerable people in deaing with any issues they had.  This shone through his presentation.  Although in his own words he ‘waffled’ a little.  Alenchenu thought this was a bad thing, but acutally it showed how important what he spoke about was to him.

Alenchenu

Alenchenu practising his presentation skills ahead of his Social Enterprise presentation with Shennell………..entitled ‘Bridge to Society’, a supportive return to the worlds of work and community for those leaving prison life.

Alenchenuand Shennell

Judges above left to right were Jo from JobCentre Plus, Jordan ex Growing Talent now Executive Host for Portico, Patti –  Pertemps, Jon – PwC, Gillian – MHFAEngland, Simon – Portico and Chloe – Iron Mountain.

The Social Enterprise presentations saw the end of the Orientation Week.  On Tuesday 5 May, Alenchenu and his peers went on site to learn the vacant roles in situ.  Working with the Rapid Response team Alenchenu’s role entails the collection and delivery of high value/critical documentation and goods.  Responsible for accurate tracking and dealing with any issues as they arise.

Alenchenu’s dedication paid off!  Just a few short weeks in, he’s been employed!  It’s a shame he’ll miss the holistic week but Alenchenu aims to catch-up with the guys later.  With his steady income, Alenchenu is going to focus on education in his ultimate field of passion – robotic prosthetics.

Seen below in Service Solutions, Alenchenu’s story is just beginning……………..

Alenchenu EP

So, what’s happened over the last month?

Jane JamesLeave a comment

In short, a roller coaster of work and opportunities!

A new Growing Talent kicked off with 12 people.  Kaith had to leave due to personal issues.  Jess left due to family illness and Sinead left because she felt the agency work she was used to suited her better than fulltime work.

Now down to the fabulous nine!  At Harrow Green,five remained working in different roles – each with diverse tasks and responsibilities.  Maxine has ween working as a Moveware Assistant with Caroline her manager.  Moveware is a bespoke relocation software used extensively in the industry.  Maxine has already traveled to lots of locations from warehouses to army bases across the UK to ensure the logging and tracking of assets was accurate.  She had a visit from the software designer who was really impressed on how quickly she had picked it up.  Due to finish Growing Talent on 24 April, she has so impressed the team and management at Harrow Green they are employing her from 1 April.  ‘I’m so excited about starting my first full-time job’ said a very enthused Maxine!

cropped group

Maxine, front row left.

Also joining Harrow Green early on 27 March are:

Selwyn – ex bus driver of over 20 years! – logistics driver

Michael – graduate of game design – operations support

Joshua – graduate sports science – Multi-Skilled Ops

Daoud – Multi Skilled Ops

All were surprised they enjoyed their roles with Harrow Green on the Growing Talent programme so much.  None would have thought of the industry or roles as areas they would start their careers in.  It just shows the benefits of opening your mind and taking a chance!

It’s award entry time!  Growing Talent has ….. well grown….. in such as short time.  From nothing to having a robust course framework with three manuals, an audit trail, mentoring programme, website – produced brilliantly by Shine Design of Putney to social media presence, we thought it time to let the world know about it.  Well, London anyway!

An entry has been written and uploaded – such a good feeling hitting that ‘submit’ button! – to Race for Opportunity and CIPD’s Marketing Awards.  I’m now working on the ENEI (Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion) and possibly a BIFM (British Institute of Facilities Management)  I’m so looking forward to May when all entry dates are closed!!!

Awards are great for exposure and networking.  The glass trophies are nice to have too!

In addition, I’m planning some more bespoke mental health workshops.  It’s empowering sharing knowledge with busy managers which will help them operate their teams more productively.  The best byproduct of this, for me, is the raising of awareness amongst the delegates themselves which I know will spread into their personal as well as work lives.

On top of designing these courses, I’ve also been lucky to network this week with some leading names in the world of business and charity.  This has led to some potentially interesting ‘seed’ ideas.  More over the next few months!

It often only needs a warm smile and ‘hello’ to start human interaction. Let’s do more of it.

You can read more about Growing Talent at http://www.growing-talent.co.uk