Member Article

Ingeus brings job joy for Yeadon father

A young father of three from Yeadon, West Yorkshire, who applied for more than 1,000 jobs whilst he was unemployed, is finally back in work - thanks to a jobs partnership between Subway’s sandwich stores and Ingeus, which delivers the government’s Work Programme in West Yorkshire.

Former mechanic Lee Edwards, 24, spent the last two years applying for every vacancy he could find, and wrote letters to companies throughout the county in the hope that he might get noticed. He lost his previous job when the business he worked for ceased trading, but he was hopeful the skills he had acquired would stand him in good stead when it came to finding another job.

“I quickly discovered it wasn’t that easy, and that I was just one of thousands of young people who really wanted to work but could not get noticed,” he said. “Being out of work became a vicious circle of relentlessly applying for jobs but being knocked back continuously. What little self-esteem I still had just disappeared.”

The change came when Lee was referred to Ingeus for specialist support. Helped by a dedicated team in Leeds, he soon discovered that getting noticed by employers was a skill in itself. Keen to succeed, Lee learned new techniques to use when applying for jobs, where to look for the vacancies that really interested him, and how to give the best impressions during job interviews.

“I want to be a role model for my children – I want them to know that working is part of life, and that earning a wage through your own efforts is very important,” he said. “Ingeus gave me back my confidence and that’s when I started to believe in myself once again.”

Ian and Lara Dawes, who own Guiseley’s Subway store and two others, in Seacroft and in Horsforth, have previously used Ingeus’s free recruitment services. They now employ six former Work Programme candidates, including Lee, and as their business grows even more, they plan to create more opportunities.

“Traditionally we have recruited through websites, but the availability of people to work in our stores has always been sporadic,” said Ian. “Through Ingeus, we have access to job-ready people all year round. Each Work Programme candidate we see has already been assessed as suitable for the roles we offer and they know what we expect of them. That’s a great advantage for us.”

“We’re a very customer-focused business,” added Lara. “We need our employees to have a range of skills, not least of which is the ability to make our customers feel valued. Despite the tough times he’s been through recently, Lee has the ability to communicate with everybody who walks through our door – and he’s a great sandwich maker!”

Ingeus’s Catherine Cooke has worked closely with Ian and Lara to understand their recruitment needs. “As a result, six people who were previously unemployed now have jobs. Lee can once again provide for his family and has regained his self-respect. For Subway, it means they have a reliable and motivated team of employees who really want to do well. Our role at Ingeus is to put the two together and, in Lee’s case, it’s been a very successful and rewarding outcome for all concerned,” said Catherine.

Ingeus is one of the UK’s leading welfare-to-work providers, delivering employability services to support unemployed people into lasting work. The company offers a free recruitment service to employers which ranges from CV-sifting to hosting full recruitment days and continues to support new employees for up to two years once they start work, helping employers to increase staff retention.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ingeus .