Three Days To A New Life

An Oxford woman who was out of work while caring for her sick mother has found a new job - caring for others.

Charlene Mullee, 26, had been searching for a job for 18 months and felt directionless when she went to A4e for help under the Government's new Work Programme.

She was caring for her mother, and also an elderly couple living opposite her - but never realised her caring nature would lead her to job success.

At her first meeting her advisor quickly spotted her potential and organised a Carer training package - which enthusiastic Charlene aced.

However, with an interview at Care UK lined up Charlene began to panic - about not having a suitable outfit to wear to the interview for the job she so desperately wanted.

Advisor Lee Woodley said: "Charlene came to me and explained that she didn't have any interview clothes to wear, and was panicking. I calmed her down and explained that we could help. Charlene was over the moon - she went out that afternoon and bought herself some trousers and a blouse, brought us back the receipt and was grinning from ear to ear."

In her smart new outfit and inspired by the A4e team, Charlene was offered a job on the spot and will begin her new job on the 23rd September.

She said: "I felt down before coming to A4e, my confidence was low where I hadn't been working.

"I am really happy. I had an interview and a job offer within 3 three days of starting at A4e. I now have a job that means I can gain new qualifications - everyone at A4e was friendly and really helpful."

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said:

"This is a great example of how the Work Programme is starting to have a positive impact on the employment prospects of thousands across the region. The new Work Programme is revolutionary in the way it tailors support to jobseekers' needs. People on out-of-work benefits who have previously been shunted from dole queue to training room to dole queue again will now finally be able to access tailored support."

###

Read more...

Facebook And Apps For Good Team Up To Offer Young Londoners A Course To Build Social Applications

Facebook and Apps for Good have teamed up to offer young, unemployed 16-25 year olds from across London the chance to learn how to design, code and build social applications via a unique new training course.

The course, which will be delivered by Apps for Good, has been developed and designed by Techlightenment, an Experian company that develops social media social technology. This latest course is designed to offer young people the chance to learn how to build Facebook applications which have a positive social impact on their life and others around them.

Applications are now being sought for the first scheme, which will run for six weeks from October 17th 2011 at the A4e Brixton Vox, a dedicated vocational training centre for young people who are unemployed or out of education.

The course will be taught by some of the UK’s leading Technology names and attendees can expect to learn the basics of web development like HTML 5 as well as more advanced coding such as PHP for more complex apps and SQL for databases. Participants will be guided through how to design, create, test, release, evaluate and maintain their own Facebook application before presenting their social applications to industry experts during a graduation ceremony in November.

Previous experience in coding is not necessary but applicants will need to demonstrate that they are passionate about using social media to solve social problems and ideally have some basic html knowledge. If you would like to know more about how to take part in scheme please visit: www.facebook.com/brixtonvox

Richard Allan, Director of Policy of Facebook in Europe said: “Facebook is proud to work with Apps for Good to create a course which has the potential to help young people improve their entrepreneurial skills, employability and technological understanding while building tools, apps and services that could transform the society we live in’

Iris Lapinski, CEO of Apps for Good said ‘We are very excited about the Apps for Good partnership with Facebook which goes right to the heart of how young people use technology today. The course will allow them to create Facebook applications that address social and community problems they are passionate about in a truly bottom-up way.’

Gi Fernando, CEO and co-founder of Techlightenment said:

“The framework that Apps for Good creates will provide young people with the skills to build social media applications and develop their overall business acumen, giving them a head start in whatever their career aspirations may be."

Tom Godfrey, Partnerships Director at A4e said: “The A4e Brixton VOX is an ideal setting for the Facebook-Apps For Good course, as we are dedicated to supporting young people into employability through vocational skills training. We look forward to seeing the positive impact creating social applications will have on both the students themselves and their wider communities.

Over the coming months the details of the ‘Facebook/Apps for Good’ course will be made available to developers and educators across the globe, via the Apps for Good online platform to enable the scheme to be replicated across the world.

Facebook and Techlightenment will also join the Apps for Goods expert community along side a range of technology companies such as Dell and Thomson Reuters, helping young people on the Apps for Good courses across the UK with their app ideas.

Read more...

Emma Harrison speaks to the Guardian about Flexible New Deal

When the Flexible New Deal (FND) offices open on 5 October many of the long-term unemployed people who are obliged to attend this radically-revised job search programme may be surprised to find themselves ushered into a welcoming cafe.

Instead of the traditional interview rooms and classrooms where jobless people have until now been taught how to compose a CV and search the local papers for job opportunities, those signed up for the new programme in one of the 40 centres run by the welfare-to-work company A4e will be greeted by an adviser over a cup of coffee...

Emma Harrison is under no illusions about the scale of the challenge. Sitting on a friendly interview sofa inside a mocked-up FND office (complete with pretend cafe), which is being used to train the 800 new advisers the company has hired to run the scheme, she says: "If you are coming on FND, it means that other interventions in the past year have not worked. You will find there will be multiple issues. That person might come with a lot of aggression, or exceptionally low self-esteem and no confidence. Unless the adviser deals with that first, then pretty much everything else we do is wasted."

Read more...