Supporting unemployed people into work: HCC principal on BBC Radio 5 Live

Posted 12th July 2012

Hackney Community College principal Ian Ashman was interviewed by BBC Radio 5’s Phil Williams on the 5 Live Breakfast Show, and spoke about some of the many ways that the college is supporting unemployed people into work.

Ian talked about new employability programmes delivered in partnership with Job Centre Plus and other Work Programme Providers and gave the example of ex-student Kevin who had been unemployed for 6 months with over 100 failed job applications behind him. “We provided him with employability skills and helped him to get work at a corporate events catering company. We were able to give Kevin a reference that the employer trusted as well as the skills that they were looking for.”

Ian Ashman, Principal at Hackney Community College

He also spoke about placing 100s of people into hospitality jobs within the Olympic Games, “because we knew exactly the sort of skills that the employer was looking for, and we could train for those.”

When Breakfast Show presenter Phil Williams pointed out that you can’t always deliver tailor-made training, Ian responded: “We also take account of what is happening in our economy and to jobs in London to make sure that we’re delivering courses to give people the skills they need …. In Hackney we’ve got a huge growth in high-tech jobs so we’re developing new programmes inlcuding a Tech City Apprentice programme.” He also mentioned that the college is the lead sponsor in a new University Technical College.

Ian’s comments were in response to a national survey which had found that unemployed people are sometimes not supported into work by the training and qualifications they get referred to. Ian was able to talk about a number of specific examples of success at HCC.

He concludes:“Of course, we’re not complacent. It’s work in progress. We’ve learnt from our experiences, we’re sharing experiences with other colleges. we’ll learn from what Ofsted’s got to say and I’m absolutely convinced that in 12 months’ time the data will tell a better story.”

Listen via iplayer here (Slide the time button to 6:16. Expires in 7 days)