As well as sitting on the Steering Group of BAOH, the firm hosts and provides volunteers for Ready to Go workshops. These workshops provide individuals from homeless backgrounds with the skills and confidence they need to help them find work. As well as helping to build interpersonal and interview skills, the workshops also provide the opportunity to dispel some of the misconceptions surrounding the issue of homelessness.
Attending the Ready to Go workshops can really help employees understand the issues around homelessness and encourages employers to think about how homeless people may be able to make a positive contribution to a working environment. Ready to Go is a great introduction to the whole issue of homelessness and volunteers often go from there to become job coaches or work placement buddies.
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Many of the clients have chaotic lifestyles and may not have a CV or recent work experience. Job placements are essential to demonstrate to a potential employer that the individual has the attributes needed in the workplace. Individuals will be paired with a "buddy" during their work placement.
The buddy's role is to oversee their placement & ensure they get the right type of work, help them settle into the team etc.
"I was a little apprehensive about being a buddy at first but I needn't have been. The person I was buddy for was great & she was keen, eager to learn and fitted really well into our working environment. But this wasn't just a learning experience for her but for me too. It allowed me to use organisational and people skills which I wouldn't usually do on a day to day basis. I'd recommend being a buddy to anyone" A Wragge & Co work placement buddy.
Wragge & Co has provided four 'Ready for Work' two-week work placements in the last 12 months. Business Action on Homelessness take time and care to match employers with suitable placement candidates. Wragge & Co has been pleased with the performance of each of the candidates who have completed work placements here. We were happy to provide positive reference letters for the candidates to take to potential employers.
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There is no expectation that a permanent role will be offered or even available at the end of a placement. But we were so impressed with two work placement candidates that we invited them both for interview for a permanent full-time role. We subsequently went on to offer the job to one of them. We are actively reviewing future vacancies to see if there are other roles which may be suitable for candidates introduced to us via the work placement scheme.
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After the work placement, individuals are paired with a job coach. Wragge & Co has provided several job coaches over the last few years to offer practical support and encouragement to clients during their search for work. Employees who have acted as job coaches have found it hugely rewarding. Being a job coach is a big commitment. You meet with the individual about once a week for six months. During that time you'll have to help them deal with inevitable set backs but it's also great being there to share their enthusiasm and excitement at a breakthrough.
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