It’s RBWeek2016, and all this week we’re talking about what it means to be a responsible business and sharing some of our highlights and success stories. Today we’re talking about Business In The Community’s ‘Ready For Work’ programme.

Ready for Work, is BITC’s national programme which supports some of society’s most disadvantaged people to enter employment, with business involvement every step of the way. 150 businesses in 20 locations support Ready for Work participants through training, work placements and their progress into employment. In return, businesses benefit from cost-effective recruitment opportunities, stronger links with the local community and personal and professional development for employee volunteers.

adi Group has been part of Business In The Community’s Ready For Work Programme for many years and have taken on numerous work placements across the business during this time. In this Blog we sat down with Simon (adi Healy Compressor Services) and Nyron (Apprentice). S imon is proud to be a mentor to many of our BITC Ready For Work placements who have gone on to do great things. Meanwhile, Nyron is one of Simon’s most recent placements who ended up impressing the adi team so much that we offered him a permanent position.

In today’s blog, Simon and Nyron share their Ready For Work experiences and success stories. Read on to learn more about their journey.

How long have you been involved as a Mentor for adi Ready For Work Programme Placements, roughly how many placements have you taken on and what made you decide to become involved?

Simon: I’ve been mentoring for over three years now and have taken about six placements out into the work place with me.

Everyone can meet a low point in their life when things are getting hard and it’s nice to give something back and to help someone back up on to the ladder and let them show and believe in their potential – like Nyron.

Tell us more about your role as a mentor to placements

Simon: My role is all about encouragement. And to show that the workplace is a great place to be. They develop skills that allow them to forward plan tasks, grow confidence, basic engineering practices and customer services.

I keep in touch with most of my placements, and it’s great when you hear that most have now got full time jobs that they enjoy. When a placement first comes along, they can be nervous and quiet to start with, but it’s great to see them open up and realise that there is a future for them. They just need to go after it.

How has being a mentor to adi placements benefited you as an employee?

Simon: I have learnt to be more “go-getting”. If a person on this programme can go on to achieve as well as they do, then so can I.

What advice would you give to anyone either looking to join the scheme as a business or as a placement person?

Simon: I hear lots of stories where the placements are being told by family and friends that they must be a mug working for two weeks without a wage.

What I see is a great opportunity. You get life experience in the work place, new skills and a reference that helps to land a new role. Also, you get an opportunity to shine, that may just land you a job that Nyron has managed.

As a business, people who have had a hard or difficult time tend to work 110% to prove their worth. It’s a programme that I would definitely recommend to other businesses out there.

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Can you tell us about your experience of the Ready For Work Programme? 

Nyron: I was a bit nervous to start with but soon felt relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed the programme.

What types of work were you involved in on your placement?

Nyron: Simon took me onto different sites where I was able to look and learn about various jobs within the role i.e how air compressors worked and how to fix them.

What was it like having Simon as a mentor?

Nyron: Having Simon as my mentor was good because he taught me what I needed to learn about engineering as well as the roles of the other engineers. He also made me feel at ease and comfortable as an Apprentice and new employee within the Group.

How did you feel when you were offered a place to work here full-time?

Nyron: I was grateful to be given the opportunity to work for the company as I enjoyed my placement and that they believed in me.

What does your role involve now?

Nyron: My role involves assisting the other engineers with compressors such as breakdowns, servicing or inspections. I also get to go out to different sites learning other aspects within my job role.

How did the placement benefit you as a person/employee?

Nyron: My placement benefitted me as I now realise that I have more capabilities of pushing myself into more fields of work.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years’ time at adi Group?

Nyron: In ten years’ time I would like to be in a managerial role.

What advice would you give to someone looking to go on the BITC Ready For Work Programme?

Nyron: My advice would be to not give up and to persevere because you never know what is in store for the future.

Interested in learning more about Business In The Community’s Ready For Work Programme? Check out the official BITC website to learn more about how your business can become involved in this fantastic programme.