Jonathan
“Before I joined Talent Match Humber I was unemployed for 3 years. After leaving university with a poor pass, my depression and anxiety disorder became more severe with a lack of routine and help.”
Through working in partnership with young people with hidden conditions, Talent Match Humber recognise and understand the challenges they can face when looking for work.
Talent Match Humber offered paid internships to young people on programme to provide more opportunities and to learn more about reasonable adjustments and accessible recruitment methods.
Jonathan started his journey with Talent Match Humber as a beneficiary. At the end of his programme he applied for the internship role, however he was unsuccessful in the interview process. Jonathan’s anxiety masked his ability which meant on that occasion Jonathan was unsuccessful, however, that wasn’t the end for Jonathan as another internship became available.
“Talent Match came back to me and told me about the role, but instead of taking me through the same interview process as before I was given a work interview, where I would be trialed in a more practical nature to assess my competencies for the role.”
Through working with PADD, the Talent Match programme was learning more and more about how to access people’s skills during the recruitment process. Instead of putting the job out again, they wanted to give Jonathan an opportunity to show his abilities through a working interview. Jonathan was set a task which had strong similarities to the role he would be doing, which he excelled in and was offered the job. Talent Match worked with Jonathan to put reasonable adjustments in place to help him manage his anxiety in the workplace, for example one of these was to allow Jonathan to take time out if he needed to. This worked really well and Jonathan was able to give the project 100%.
“Without getting the chance to prove myself in a work interview I would have really struggled like I have previously to secure work.”
Whilst working with Talent Match Humber, Jonathan continued to do well, he successfully supported a group of young people to create the board game ‘Jobbled’ which is an educational tool for employers which highlights the challenges people with hidden conditions face when looking for work.
Jonathan successfully completed his internship with no sick days and with the success of his role, he was able to secure full time employment with Toby Carvery.