Transitions London C.I.C. Summary of services delivered
January – December 2013
CONTENTS
Directors’
Report
Our Vision
and Objectives
Corporate
clients and supporters
The Team
The history
of Transitions
Achievements:
2013 & 2011-2013
The
future
Directors’ Report
Our first thanks go to our 75 candidates since 2011 for the
patience, calmness and determination demonstrated while moving through a kaleidoscope
of tripwires before finding skilled employment.
33 of those professionals found skilled work. We want to increase that figure next year. Our candidates are highly skilled engineers,
international development and finance professionals. On average, refugees are
more highly skilled than the UK national average and the 70% longterm
unemployment figure is simply not efficient or acceptable in a sophisticated
western labour market, in our view. We know it is very frustrating, in the
absence of any statutory services for refugees to assist them with orientation
and in a market that is mostly unaware even of their existence as a highly
marginalised group in the labour market.
So thank you and congratulations to all our candidates for their efforts
and successes.
Thank you also to our growing number of corporate clients,
in engineering, international development and finance. They include, as
fee-paying or sponsoring clients, Crossrail, KPMG , London Community Credit
Union, National Grid, the IET and the Royal Academy of Engineering and as
intern hosts, they include Circle Housing, Crossrail, Kew Gardens research,
RedR Humanitarian Relief agency & VSO. Our candidates have also succeeded
in finding jobs directly, with our support, with organisations including the
BBC, Bechtel, the Financial Ombudsman, Oxfam in Jordan and VirginMedia.
It has been a challenging year, with the often-heard
message from corporates of ‘ Sorry, we have plenty of applicants and don’t need
your service’ and ‘Sorry, our internships are only for students’. From our
research this year, it seems that CSR and diversity management very rarely
connects with levelling the playing field for hiring professionals with refugee
background. However, our multi-stakeholder pathway is gradually attracting clients
who are using more creative ways of finding talent to benefit their corporate objectives.
Thank you to all the organisations who
have connected with us so far and we look forward to providing more services in
the future.
Sheila Heard,
Managing Director, Justin Brett, Quality Standards and Evaluations director,
Martin James, Financial Controls and Planning director,
Our Vision and Objectives
OVERALL VISION
To provide socially responsible recruitment related services,
with particular reference to highly skilled refugee candidates living
in London
SPECIFIC AIMS In
brief:
· Skilled Jobs
· Visibility and
influence for candidates
· Influencing
decision making in the labour market relating to job-seeking highly skilled
refugees
· Building a
sustainable social enterprise business
Corporate clients and supporters
Thank you to all our corporate clients and to all organisations
who have participated in the Stakeholder Advisory Network seminars and
research. Click on these links to see
who they are and read what they say about Transitions and about good practice
on themes including internships, recruitment practice, corporate social
responsibility & representation of
refugee engineers and international development professionals in the UK labour
market.
The Team
Transitions now has three directors. We welcomed Martin
James as the new Financial Control and Planning director during the year. We
had the support of three interns during the year, who were paid an allowance
and provided coaching & market research assistance. Also 2 volunteers, one
as administration assistant and one in marketing. The advisory panel has grown to 6 people.
They offer voluntary advice, according to their skillset. Please see this link
for information. http://www.transitions-london.co.uk/index.php/teamtransitions
The history of Transitions
Transitions began in 2010 as a pilot social enterprise
with 6 candidates, with the objective of building a sustainable employment-focussed
social enterprise service to multiple stakeholders including candidates, employers, other agencies,
professional bodies & statutory bodies. In 2010 the national refugee integration &
employment service (RIES) had been closed and most refugee agencies were
experiencing other major funding cuts. Transitions’ directors had over 20
years’ joint experience of providing employment services to highly skilled
refugees and felt that the skills of these candidates are such that there
should be a niche social enterprise recruitment market opening, for the benefit
of the whole market.
Achievements: 2013 & 2011-2013
Here are some key statistics: Jan 2011 – end November 2013
44% professional job
outcomes (33 of 75 1-1 candidates)
42 internships with
targetted orientation services
71% of interns found
skilled jobs – ie 30 out of 42 interns
227 applications for
registration with Transitions
87 engineers have
applied
2013
23 new 1-1 candidates.
8 workshops delivered and 2
Advisory Network seminars http://www.transitions-london.co.uk/index.php/advisory-network-thanks
22 candidates (some from
2011/2012) found jobs (13 professional,
9 transitional)
9 of those who found
professional jobs had completed internships (70% of 13)
10 internships (all
3-6 months) (8 by Transitions, 2 by candidates)
20 Graduate scheme &
other jobsearch peer coaching partnerships brokered.
The future
We are preparing for a busy 2014, with a set of targets to
achieve! The service has been tested, stakeholder analysis carried out and we
are planning to deliver more quality, niche services, particularly in
engineering and also in the
international development and finance sectors. As well as earned income generation, we are
preparing a funding bid to add to Transitions’ staffing capacity.
Here are our services, which we will continue to
deliver in 2014 http://www.transitions-london.co.uk/docs/Transitions-positive-action-&-CSR-internships-and-employment-services-Autumn-2013.pdf
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