Welsh Government – Pre employment Training
We were commissioned by Welsh Government to deliver a pilot training programme to approximately 180 unemployed people across Wales. There were to be no barriers to anyone joining the programme and recruitment was aimed at:-
- Young person aged 16 – 24 to support the Young Persons guarantee
- Carers
- People with disabilities
- Disadvantaged unemployed
- College leavers with limited experience
We worked with a range of organisations to identify suitable candidates. These included:
- JCP
- Chwarae Teg
- Serco
- Remploy/Maximus
- Newport Communities Development
- Caerphilly Communities First
- Our Housing Association Members
Once we had identified suitable candidates through our partners, each participant experienced a 5-day program entitled “Great Service and Channels of the Future”. The first 4 days of intense training focused on skills and preparation. We delivered a mixture of mainly online training, however, were also able to deliver face to face where needed. The 5th day was dedicated to coaching them in preparation for their interview on the same day.
We provided interviews with credible employers that started participants on a training journey for a career in the industry.
Other organisations that were involved with this programme and provided credible interviews and roles were: –
- Admiral Group
- Capital on Tap
- Sky
- Connect Assist
- Consumer Helpline
- Target Group
- Dwr Cymru
- Lloyds Banking Group
We were also able to help several companies with their expansion plans, for example a Swansea Company needed 100 people quickly and had no route to fulfil their contract. These were new jobs for Wales and would have been at risk of losing the contract if they could not recruit the people.
We worked only with Companies that paid the “real” living wage – we anticipated the starting salaries to be no less than £22,500 per year.
In addition, we worked only with freelance Welsh based trainers who have worked in the extensively throughout the industry. Communities had really suffered during the pandemic, and this program helped support them to get back on their feet.
We spread delivery to the 180 candidates across 12/14 courses depending on how many were registered on each course. These were split as follows:
- Swansea & West Wales – 3 courses
- Cardiff & South- East Wales – 6 courses
- North Wales – 3 courses
This project only helped deliver the guarantees given by the Minister in his Economic Plan, but it also helped position the industry as an exciting career of choice.
