Employment

About the programme:

Our employment programme was initially created as a response to the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020, to support those who suffered from the mass layoffs and redundancies which came as a result. It was initially a 1-year programme, however, after the response it had and how many people it ended up engaging with, it was decided that it was too important for the work to stop.

The programme operated with a person-centred, flexible, zero-criteria, and casual approach which turned out to be a big selling point for the programme. It meant it could spend more time with individuals and tackle the issues they were facing as an individual, we could work both in-person or online to make it accessible as possible, could work with anyone and whether they’re unemployed, under-employed, or still in education, and in general made people feel more comfortable and feel a familiarity about us. 

The programme turned into something that people turned to instead of already existing public schemes, essentially becoming a safety net for those who didn’t engage with or slipped through the cracks of public employment schemes due to not fitting certain criteria’s or having had previous negative experiences.

The programme has constantly adapted depending on where gaps appeared in the community, such as working with school leavers in comprehensive schools so that they were appropriately prepared for the working world, working in Job Centres providing employment skills like CV writing and job searching due to the the centres being under-staffed and over-subscribed, delivering in more venues, and supporting with benefits and sign posting due to the cost-of-living crisis, running employment workshops and events for the international students in the area who are struggling to find work, and more.

Since the initial year, the programme has been funded by multiple funders including Confused.com, The RANK Foundation, and most recently Pen Y Cymoedd.

How we can help:

  • CV Writing – We can help you create your first CV, Update an existing CV or help tailor it to a specific role.
  • Interview preparation/ Mock interviews – We can prepare you for interviews and host mock interview sessions.
  • Job searching support – We can sit down with you and support you with your job searching.
  • Providing free courses/ training – We can help you find and sometimes pay for the training that you require to move into work such as CSCS cards.
  • General job advice – We can provide advice and guidance if you’re stuck and you don’t know what your next steps are.
  • Benefit support – We can assist you in finding what benefits you are eligible for.
  • Application support – We can support you filling in job applications.
  • Workshops – We can provide workshops covering any of the topics listed above.
  • Providing devices for job searches – If your struggling to look for work do to not having access to a device we can help with that.
  • Volunteering opportunities – We can help provide you with volunteering opportunities to gain valuable work experience.
  • Linking up with employers – We can help link you up with employers we know are hiring in the area.

Where we work:

The programme has worked in many different settings and venues during it’s time including:

  • Community centres.
  • Community partnership venues.
  • Libraries.
  • Warm Centres.
  •  Schools/ Colleges.
  • Job Centres.
  • Peoples homes.
  • Online.

Feedback:

"Because of Covid, I wasn't able to finish my carpentry apprenticeship. I approached Tom to help me find a job as I didn't feel anybody would hire me. He helped me create my first CV, made me feel more confident and to gain some experience helped me access volunteering. This was all a massive help as it led to me finding work.''
Ryan
Rhondda Resident
''Tom was really easy to work with. I didn't have a feeling of being judged and having someone local felt as though I knew them and made me feel more comfortable.''
Sarah
Rhondda Resident
''For CV's we do have a couple of other providers who provide CV support. I asked Tom to send me some examples of his CV's and they were excellent. They were better than the other providers and you can put me on the record as saying that. I've asked the work coaches what they think and they've all said they are excellent too. So we do have our government partners that provide this support but they haven't always been the best providers. Green Light has been better than the provision that we should be using. So at the moment the work coaches are all wanting to use Green Light before the other providers.''
Job Centre
Manager
''What they do is they look at the individual. They look at what the barriers are locally, and what things are like on the local side and the local barriers and then they look to see what help there is to overcome those. So they are very customer, or client, focused, or whatever they call the people they work with. So it's not the case that they think they know best, they look at the issues that the client has and they help them.''
Job Centre
Manager

Contact:

If you need any help with employment and are looking for friendly, approachable and down to earth support please get in touch: 

Email: Tom@Generationrhondda.org.uk

Phone: 07956 811459

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