I was invited, alongside twenty other volunteer employers, to "speed-interview" a selection of candidates, where I was asked to provide feedback and advice on their CVs and interview skills, and to give candidates the vital opportunity to disclose their criminal record.
The session was a humbling experience to say the least, but more importantly, it was a valuable opportunity for candidates to practise interviewing techniques in a non-judgmental environment, and served as a huge confidence boost for the less self-assured. As an employer, it was a fantastic opportunity for me to see the candidates in action, learn about their experiences and assess their potential as employees beyond any initial preconceptions I may have had.
Working Chance is a recruitment charity placing women with criminal convictions into quality jobs across London. I had contacted Working Chance to discuss introducing a professional hand-writer role, on behalf of written communications company, Inkpact, as an early intervention to help their service users access low-barrier to entry work, start to re-build a track record through work on campaigns for various well known companies, and ultimately to move them closer to securing full-time work.
We are seeing 1-2 new candidates a week come through from Working Chance, and have two fully-trained writers who have successfully completed written campaigns for Inkpact's clients. All writers work with Inkpact on a supported-freelance basis, with the flexibility to pick up as little or as much work as they wish in any given month.
It's exciting to see how far Inkpact’s employer partnership with Working Chance can grow – what’s certain is that, together, we’re transforming lives one letter at a time.
The above article by Nneka Chukwurah first published on goodnewsshared.com in Jul, 2016.
