Hi Tricia ... that sounds really interesting - hope it goes well for you!  Where are you based?

Greta Fordyce, my colleague and I work as adult literacies workers in the Cambuslang and Rutherglen area and one aspect of our work which we're keen to develop is to ensure that people who are looking for work get all the support they need.  We're both term-time, so one of our tutors ran a summer programme based around CV building, interview techniques, filling in forms, etc which was really well received and we're definitely hoping to run that again.  We've met with staff in our local JobCentres before at their staff meetings and whilst we get referrals for clients who need support, we know that there must be a huge amount of unmet need out there - and it's just finding the best way to tap into that and reach the people who need help.

You can email me on gw13rossjulia@glow.sch.uk if you need anything - Greta and I would be happy to share resources with you or better still, have a chat about awareness raising to get people to come along to groups!

Best

Julia

Hi Julia

Thanks for
your message, it does sound as if there is some overlap in terms of the work we
are doing or hoping to do within the Job Centres - especially the summer
programme you mentioned.  I am one of the Development Workers within the
Adult Literacies team in Inverclyde.  At present we facilitate 1.5
hour Employability Workshops within JCP premises in Greenock and Port
Glasgow which are ran in partnership with our Adult Learning Team, Future
Skills and the JCP with a JCP Job Coach involved in the delivery of the
workshops.  

These
workshops are discussion based inviting participants to feedback on their job
seeking experiences, employability skills, ask questions etc.  We have a couple of activities we ask them to
complete which focus on the importance of a robust personal profile and an up
to date ‘live’ CV.  These activities
usually generate discussion and participants learn some hints and tips from
each other.  Participants are then
invited to attend an hour long practical session the following week to look at
starting to draft a CV, set up a UJM account etc.   For us, the main aim of the workshops is to
identify any participants who require literacy support who we can refer into
our local literacy provision for support or signpost participants to attend our
local Work Clubs for more regular job search support.  

Future
Skills are also involved in the partnership to raise awareness re the
introduction of Universal Credit and the support they can provide - budgeting
and digital support.

We have also
input at JCP team meetings to raise awareness of our services and the support
on offer.

A discussion with you and Greta about resources and awareness raising would be really useful.  You can e-mail me on font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tricia.donaghy@inverclyde.gov.uk or 07552 210672

Tricia