May was another busy month for us at Working Chance. During the coronavirus lockdown, we have seen a real shift in the nature of demand for our services. Many women are coming to us with more complex needs and additional support requirements. Many of these are arising as a direct result of some of the measures put in place to combat Covid-19.
We’ve taken some time to make sure we are really able to understand these changing needs of our candidates. That’s why we’ve decided to scale back on our recruitment work for the time being and focus instead on meeting the support and wellbeing needs of our candidates. We want to leave women equipped and confident to navigate their own career paths.
This month, our engagement team welcomed 22 new women onto our service, assessed their needs and created bespoke training and support plans. 21 women received one-to-one support around how best to disclose their conviction. For many women, this will be the first time they have spoken about their conviction and is a vital step in moving forward with their life. This candidates’ recent feedback sums this up perfectly:
“I must say your disclosure advice really works. It’s helped me to have the confidence to talk about my conviction in interviews. My conviction shouldn’t define the rest of my life, or my past life.”
In addition to this, we helped 11 women perfect their CVs and a further 8 received support around their interview skills. Our weekly wellbeing sessions also continue to be well attended and we were joined by 21 women this month. These are a really great way for us to stay connected with our candidates and share useful tips to help us look after ourselves during lockdown.
Despite the difficult economic climate, we managed to support six women into work this month across a range of key worker industries and charities. These included care and support roles, a finance officer at a large charity and a warehouse worker for a female hygiene company.
In June, we’ll be introducing virtual employability workshops. Check back next month to see how they’re going and hear some of the feedback!