Employers now deliberate after a loud, conversation and laughter filled Speed Dating Session today!…..

What a morning!

Around forty enthused, slightly nervous, currently unemployed, talented people joined our event not too sure what was going to happen.

A level playing field as some of our employers were new and had no idea how things would work either!

Prior to the employers arriving, we had an hour networking session. It’s tough to speak with strangers. It’s easier to blend into the background. Not on Growing Talent!!!! People were supported to step out of the shadows they preferred to stay in and step into the light, talking about themselves and learning about others on the same journey as them.

As the employers arrived and got settled with Anna and Jill from JobCentre Plus – seen in the feature photo above, we moved into a seminar room to go over the finer points and sent the volume skywards as we recognised how much talent was in the room – loudly. Apologies to the internal meeting going on next door!!!!

As you can see from the action shot above everyone enthusiastically chatted to the employers from different industries learning about each other as they went around the room.

So now the employers have time to deliberate who they would like to invite to the next stage – 1-2-1 meetings on their sites.

We were lucky to have some observers drop in and say ‘hello’ including Nigel and Allen from our funders and Tevin and Jenny from Ingeus.

But what did the applicants think as Growing Talent is so far away from traditional recruitment?

“I loved it. It’s really different”

“There’s jobs here I’m interested in but never though I would be”

“Thanks for inviting me, I’m so glad I came”

Check back to see who is going on their Growing Talent journey!

A massive thanks to our awesome employers, who all said they’d seem some ‘gems’:

Lasse and Tam @PilgrimsGroup

Jamie and Sharaz @Pertemps

Anne-Marie, Will and Rikpal @BreyerGroup

Lauren, Paul and awesome team member @Honeywell

Stace, Holy, Antonio, Jonathan, Darren and Katherine @SPSUKandIreland

Toni and Dana @WSHGroup #Portico #BaxterStorey

Mark and his awesome logistics team #Honeywell for being flexible and supportive with my last minute changes!!!!!

For me, the highlight was see a number of applicants who’d walked in not knowing anyone with their heads down a little unsure and walked out laughing, heads high, talking about their experience – just fabulous!