Prince William visits Homewards Aberdeen Coalition member Aberdeen Foyer to launch a new partnership between Homewards and one of the UK’s leading recruitment experts, Hays. The partnership will create employment pathways for people experiencing, or at risk of homelessness across all six Homewards locations. Steven Bartlett joined the Prince of Wales during the visit. Report by Faragt. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00Thank you very much.
00:30We operate in multiple locations, most importantly across the six homes for us to start with.
00:38And our intervention unit, the one that I'll sit down in the back to be able to give you some information.
00:50So can I just keep talking?
00:52It is very difficult.
00:54So, tell me, how does the visual tech get in there?
00:58We love it.
01:01It helps us so much.
01:04Honestly, we wouldn't be here without it.
01:07It gave us a huge opportunity to meet another person.
01:16In the future, hopefully, in the future, I will have this on my neck.
01:24Hi, I'm Rosie.
01:27Hi, I'm Rosie.
01:29Can you hear me?
01:31Yes, yes.
01:32Just back in Aberdeen?
01:33Yeah.
01:34What can I read for you?
01:36Do you guys want to speak to me?
01:38Oh, yes.
01:40So we've got...
01:42So at this moment, a lot of people don't know what the roadblocks are to maybe getting to their dream life.
01:48What journey?
01:49What's it going to be?
01:52What our destination is going to be.
01:55So, as you guys have faced trying to get jobs...
01:58Currently, I say age, because some jobs, you have to go quite old.
02:02Right.
02:03So, if you're really, like, young and active...
02:06You feel it when you're doing an interview, it's quite difficult.
02:09It is important to build that experience in business.
02:11It's not easy sometimes talking to strangers in a pressurized situation.
02:15And some jobs, I think, some employers do better than others.
02:18Some employers are a bit more...
02:20They can learn the language and the environment to make it better,
02:24so that you do feel comfortable and relaxed doing it.
02:27And I think other employers probably can do a lot better and create such a tense, very difficult environment.
02:37Come on.
02:38Oh, we'll start with that one.
02:40Of course.
02:42Is your name Michelle?
02:44Michelle.
02:45You're Michelle.
02:46Yes, I do like what Michelle said.
02:52Go for it. Do it. Go for it.
02:54As long as you're not cheating us.
03:12Oh, me?
03:13Dexter.
03:14Dexter?
03:15Dexter?
03:16My name's Dexter.
03:23OK, what's your name?
03:24Ben.
03:26Anyone like him?
03:27Yeah, me.
03:28You have a seaweed.
03:29Nice to meet you.
03:36So, have you given up?
03:37So, why is it so hard to get a name like that?
03:41Ben.
03:42Ben.
03:43If you want to do a job like this...
03:44What are you doing?
03:46To be honest.
03:48Yeah.
03:49You're all smart.
03:50Lovely.
03:51So, I should have the young person win.
03:54Oh, really?
03:55Not like me.
04:01Well, Tim, you're all going to be in one, so...
04:05Think about what you will.
04:10So, sir, round the table discussion about the model
04:12and the impact it can achieve.
04:14Perhaps starting with Karen and Jamie, about...
04:18I think in terms of the Project Flourish,
04:21there's been a lot of lessons, you know,
04:23being informed by young people along the way.
04:25And there's a few things that really jump out to me
04:28in terms of that.
04:29For another young person that we have,
04:31working within a social housing provider,
04:34accommodation was fine.
04:36But it was more beneficial for her
04:38to actually learn to drive.
04:41So, we applied the bursary to...
04:44for her to learn to drive,
04:46because of the lessons.
04:47Because ultimately, she's got a company vehicle.
04:49She works in trains.
04:50That's sort of daunting for business,
04:52to think about the effort and scale
04:54and the difficulty, potentially, of tailoring.
04:56Is that a barrier, maybe, that we have to break down a bit?
04:59I think we work in a positive culture and environment
05:04and with mentors.
05:06But it's genuinely a team effort.
05:09So, when we're tailoring, we're very much leaning...
05:12It's probably easier by applying more of what they expect.
05:16But, I mean, from every youth point of view,
05:18there's quite a bit of work done.
05:20Obviously, you think you're allowed work to tailor and help.
05:23Yeah, for sure.
05:24Because I think you can only...
05:26You can only take advantage of the opportunities
05:28if they're tough
05:29and you give them that opportunity to go through.
05:32So, I think it's a balance of having that capability
05:35that Hayes had,
05:36the employer really buying into the idea
05:38and supporting them,
05:39but making sure that the young person
05:41has a stable bedrock of support behind them.
05:44Almost in a familial way,
05:46giving them that back-up that they need to make it.
05:53It's been so eye-opening,
05:55spending time with young people,
05:56but also as a business owner,
05:57because I want to understand the role
05:59that Homewoods are playing here
06:00in bringing together these key stakeholders.
06:02And having spoken to some of the young people in that room...
06:09Because it's so important,
06:11we don't want to get it wrong.
06:13So, I think there's always going to be
06:15that bit of nervousness about how you go about it.
06:19Andrea, can I ask,
06:20where does the impetus and the energy for this come from?
06:24Where does...
06:25Is this driven from the very top?
06:27Is this a company-led thing?
06:28Is this...
06:29Why be a part of this?
06:31I think, as a business,
06:33it's driven by, yes, the very top.
06:36And it's integral to every part of what we do.
06:39We are all about affordable eye care
06:41and hair care for everybody.
06:43So, I think for us,
06:45we're very much about work.
06:47That's why I asked that question.
06:49I'm trying to work out a way to be able to
06:51fire electrical current for all CEOs to go,
06:54come on.
06:55These processes that you're so used to following
06:57with your typical recruitment.
06:59And actually, Jamie and the team found it very easy
07:02for our recruitment teams,
07:03but also our hiring managers,
07:05to learn this new way of recruiting.
07:08And the likes of every youth in the charities that we work with.
07:11Big success.
07:12As Stephen said, this is scaled.
07:14How do we take what you guys are doing here,
07:16building and learning,
07:17into something bigger,
07:19hopefully more sustainable,
07:20and with some sort of legacy?
07:22Do we have...
07:23Are there stepping stones and upper ladders
07:25that we've got to go a little bit?
07:27Or can you all point to where that could be?
07:30I think that this has been,
07:32for us at Hayes,
07:33it's been a two-year,
07:34circa two years,
07:35getting to this point.
07:36And there's been some hard truths
07:38and some lessons learned.
07:39And they will continue to be here every day.
07:41But we're comfortable now
07:42that we've got that process to apply.
07:45And then ultimately,
07:47there's an element of time and resource.
07:50But that is what corporate businesses have.
07:53Might not always be able to put loads of cash behind it
07:55all of the time,
07:56but if you've got the heart and the people,
07:58then yeah.
07:59Yeah, definitely.
08:01So that's what I'm going to do.
08:02Yeah.
08:05Well, we've got these alienated tools.