We are pleased to have been approved for new government funding to support young people into the industry.
The Kickstart government scheme aims to help young people, whose job prospects have been disproportionately affected by COVID, into long term work.
We are creating new temporary roles at our offices in Newcastle, Ruislip and Solihull within our resourcing and compliance team. The funding covers 25 hours a week for six months, and VGC will cover the remaining costs for the full-time roles (39 hours per week).
The trainees will learn about the recruitment process, from advertising and applications to shortlisting, compliance checks, onboarding and placement. By the end of the six-month placement, they will have transferable skills that will make them valuable to any recruitment business.
In addition, we will provide a full employability training programme, and a mentor to help them with their individual career planning.
These placements support our corporate social responsibility strategy, which aims to attract new entrants to the construction industry, and to support the communities in which we work. Creating good employment opportunities and meaningful development opportunities is part of VGC’s commitment to delivering social value through our activities.
“These are new jobs,” said Ciara Pryce, chief operating officer. “We have created these roles so we can help young people to increase their employability skills in the labour market. At the end of the placement, we hope VGC’s growth will mean we can offer permanent employment to all of them.”
Our Kickstart trainees will benefit from:
- VGC induction covering policies, procedures, code of conduct, mission and values
- a personal development plan and objectives, reviewed monthly by their line manager
- an informal work buddy to support the transition into the workplace
- weekly team meetings covering business updates and priorities
- software training on MS Office, MS Teams, Salesforce, Access RDB
- self-guided learning from the Supply Chain Sustainability School, including fairness, inclusion and respect (FIR) and modern slavery awareness
- visits to construction sites to meet candidates
- a monthly networking meeting with the senior team
- BUPA Employee Assistance Programme.
They will also take part in a full employability support programme. This will include interview preparation and the job application process, plus one-to-one employability support by a mentor, to help individual career planning, guidance and CV development.
About Kickstart
The £2 billion Kickstart scheme was announced by the chancellor in summer 2020. It provides support for approved employers to create new job placements for 16- to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit, who are at risk of long term unemployment.
For employers who meet the strict criteria, the government will fund
- the national minimum wage for 25 hours per week
- associated employer National Insurance contributions
- employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions
for a total of six months.
The job placements created with Kickstart scheme funding must be new jobs. They must not replace existing vacancies, or cause existing employees, apprentices or contractors to lose work.
Kickstart scheme job placements are only available for Universal Credit claimants aged 16 to 24 who are referred by JobCentres. If you are eligible and interested, please talk to your local JobCentrePlus work coach.
