July was another busy month for us at Working Chance as we continue to expand our digital training offer and support women with convictions remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Demand for our services continues to be high and in July, we met with 20 new women to learn about their needs, career goals and figure out how we can best support them to realise these aspirations. We held six digital group workshops looking at how to write a stand-out CV, disclosing your conviction and the law, interview tips and techniques, and a newly designed workshop on confidence and self-esteem. In a recent survey we conducted with women in prison and those with convictions in the community, women repeatedly identified confidence as one of the main areas they would like support in. The session on confidence was extremely popular and we received some great feedback. One woman said:
“The workshop has given me a lot of positivity. I’ll work on positive affirmations. I just forget that I do have good attributes in myself!”
Another commented a few days later:
“It’s been really useful for me for job applications. It’s making me think for myself. I now have 5 things I know and like about myself!”
In addition to this, we held 23 one-on-one support sessions providing bespoke and personalized advice and guidance to women. Our weekly wellbeing workshops continue to well-attended with 23 different women dialing in over the course of July. We love the sense of community we’ve built up and seeing familiar faces join us every week to share ways to manage stress, anxiety and motivation during this difficult time.
Despite the sluggish employment market, we managed to put seven women forward for interviews across different employers in July, of which three were successful. Two are starting work at London based charities in support roles and another will be working at a tampon company. We’re hoping that after the summer recruitment lull and as businesses are better able to plan for the future, recruitment activity will pick up again. Whatever happens, we will be here to make sure the women we work with have the best possible chances of securing employment.
In August, we’ll be launching a workshop on transferable skills where we’ll explore the basic skills you might need to navigate your way through the workplace. Check back next month to see how it went!
“The workshop has given me a lot of positivity. I’ll work on positive affirmations. I just forget that I do have good attributes in myself!”
Another commented a few days later:
“It’s been really useful for me for job applications. It’s making me think for myself. I now have 5 things I know and like about myself!”
In addition to this, we held 23 one-on-one support sessions providing bespoke and personalized advice and guidance to women. Our weekly wellbeing workshops continue to well-attended with 23 different women dialing in over the course of July. We love the sense of community we’ve built up and seeing familiar faces join us every week to share ways to manage stress, anxiety and motivation during this difficult time.
Despite the sluggish employment market, we managed to put seven women forward for interviews across different employers in July, of which three were successful. Two are starting work at London based charities in support roles and another will be working at a tampon company. We’re hoping that after the summer recruitment lull and as businesses are better able to plan for the future, recruitment activity will pick up again. Whatever happens, we will be here to make sure the women we work with have the best possible chances of securing employment.
In August, we’ll be launching a workshop on transferable skills where we’ll explore the basic skills you might need to navigate your way through the workplace. Check back next month to see how it went!