Good experience!
Since the summer, we've been working alongside the London Borough of Havering to try and prepare young adult members of the autistic community for a life in the workplace. A number of young people have come forward and expressed an interest in finding out about work experience opportunities and we've been trying our best to place them with suitable employers.
One such individual was Reece, who approached us to find out if we could help him look at what he might be well suited to. After a glance at Reece's CV , it became clear that he was a very capable and highly qualified individual, so we introduced him to our friends at Balfour Beatty in Thurrock, working on the preparation for the Lower Thames Crossing, and they swiftly offered Reece some work experience.
He was delighted to be given the opportunity to contibute to such a major development, and he went along to their Thurrock HQ in October. Lauren Edmonds, Social Impact Advisor for Balfour Beatty, explained how Reece got on.
"At the Lower Thames Crossing, we are passionate about supporting and developing a diverse and inclusive workforce therefore when I first met with the team at Sycamore Trust I was keen to be able to see what we could do to help them", she said.
"We have recently supported one of their members Reece with a work placement opportunity. When I first met Reece, I wanted to ensure that he had meaningful experience with us. I was keen to understand his areas of interest with regards to his career. Reece explained that he was not 100% sure of what he wanted to do, but he had an interest within design and engineering. With that in mind I planned for Reece to meet with different people within Balfour Beatty, Atkins and the Lower Thames Crossing design and engineering teams. He learnt about the different areas and stages of design and engineering that take place on major projects like the Lower Thames Crossing and helped him to gain a wider understanding of this area of work. He also had the opportunity to visit the Atkins Epsom office, to spend the day with the early careers team and gain an insight into their apprenticeships and graduate schemes. During that week Reece also completed the Atkins virtual work experience programme."
Reece really enjoyed the experience. He said; "I really enjoyed my time at the office and it really opened my eyes to the possibilities and has given me some insight into the type of role I would be interested in going for in the future. I will be following up from last week and reviewing what is available on the Balfour Beatty site and hopefully find something suitable. Please pass on my appreciation to those who helped me throughout the week."
We're delighted that Reece was able to enjoy such a positive experience and we're extremely grateful to Balfour Beatty for offering the opportunity. We must also thank the London Borough of Havering for their continued commitment to the project and enabling some of the young adults in the Havering autistic community to get a taste of life in a working environment.
If you're interested in finding out more about the opportunities on offer, or if you're on emplyoer willing to offer a place, click here for more information; https://www.sycamoretrust.org.uk/latest/article/New-employment-project-in-Havering or email steve.dixon@sycamoretrust.org.uk
