Northumberland Employability Network
The Northumberland Employability Network held its final meeting for 2024 at Cramlington Hub.
The last of 6 meetings delivered this year by Vicki Clarke, Employment Partnership Coordinator and Lyn Horton, Community Engagement Officer, 55 professionals from the employability sector came together for networking, discussion and to share information.
New contacts were made, ideas for collaboration projects were initiated, and a new Care Leaver focus group was convened – with 8 of our members now working together to raise awareness and coordinate support for our young people.
Fiona Richardson from Newcastle Carers shared her expertise in a presentation to raise awareness of the impact of being a Carer and the support offered by the organisation to residents and employers. Feedback from the group praised the knowledge shared in identifying Carers in their own teams and residents they support to now be able to signpost to effective provision.
Ian facilitated his last Employer Engagement focus group as he’s decided the time has come to babysit the grandchildren and watch more rugby. Enjoy your retirement, Ian, and thanks for all your hard work supporting our Northumberland businesses.
We welcomed one of many new members to the network, Hannah – the Local Specialist at Barclays, who also joined us on the same day to deliver employment and careers support at our event for neurodiverse residents. Hannah shared:
“How a STAR can help you shine. A part of my role I really enjoy is connecting with and understanding the role of other organisations within my community. What do they do? How do they work? The Northumberland Employability Network is designed to bring together services across all sectors to encourage collaboration in delivering skills needed to secure employability and enhance overall wellbeing. Today’s network meeting was a great chance to meet, put faces to emails and discuss how we can develop strategies to ensure employees thrive in 2025. It was a prime time to share how our hashtag#BarclaysDigitalWings and hashtag#BarclaysLifeSkills programmes can support training organisations as well as employers, employees and students in obtaining those vital skills. I enjoyed hearing from Lyn Horton and discussing the brilliance of speed interviews for under 18’s in agreement that CV building and identifying transferrable skills should start way before the world of work is thrust upon you, preparation is key. This took us into the afternoon where Barclays UK along with 7 other employers were invited to the network’s hashtag#Neurodiverse Careers event where I was able to listen and support visitors with mock interview questions and Lifeskills registrations.
What a fantastic 2 hours being able to really sit, engage and support. We looked at transferable skills and broke down interview questions looking at the STAR method to erase the ‘where do I even begin?’ element of an interview through focusing on streamlined effective responses. Personally I loved being able to listen and learn how small adaptations within the workplace can ensure for a more inclusive environment for neurodiverse colleagues.”
Feedback received at the network meeting commented on “another well organised event, delivered in a professional manner” and “a good collaboration opportunity for the council to support the community and those on the ground”.
To find out more about the Northumberland Employability Network, please contact Vicki or Lyn:
victoria.clarke@northumberland.gov.uk
lyn.horton@northumberlandcva.org.uk