Kier mentor unemployed Islington residents

Kier in Islington is helping unemployed local residents to find suitable work and training by offering a programme of mentoring through an Islington Council scheme.

Under the initiative run by Islington Council’s Business and Employability Support Team, Kier’s learning & development advisor, Radha Corinaldesi, has dedicated a day a week to the eight-week work club programme to offer the benefit of her experience to help the attendees find work, along with a number of volunteers from the private sector. This is the first time Islington Council has initiated a project of this kind and the pilot is running at the Mildmay Community Centre in Newington Green.

Attendees are given support from the volunteers and assistance with preparing a CV, help with job applications, writing a covering letter, supporting statements and ongoing web searches for employment.

Radha said: “The general unemployment rate and the proportion of Islington residents on out-of-work benefits is currently around 24,000, significantly higher than the national average so we were delighted as a local company to be able to help alleviate this issue. I have been mentoring local resident Natalie Burrell for six weeks now which has seen her shortlisted for three interviews and on to secure a permanent post in a neighboring local authority office.”

Natalie said: “I couldn’t have got this far without the work club team. The preparation was very helpful, Radha has been amazing and very knowledgeable. I feel I couldn’t have performed as well in my interview if it was not for her guidance and support. A big thank you to Radha!”

Claire Tunley, Business and Employability Support Team manager, said: “We are committed to tackling the high numbers of out of work residents in Islington head on through partnerships with our business community. We are putting in place innovative projects, such as the work club, to give local people the best possible chance of securing employment and a better future for them and their family.

“The involvement of volunteers is essential to our success and Kier’s involvement is helping to find a solution and give job seekers valuable insight into the world of work.”

About: Kier has been delivering repairs and maintenance services plus gas servicing to the tenants of Islington Council through their Arm’s Length Management Organisation, Homes for Islington, for over ten years. It successfully won a contract in 2011 to continue to provide these services to up to 25,000 homes managed by Homes for Islington for a further seven to ten years.