Recent Career Coaching Case Studies and Clients

 

G4S - UK Border Agency Site

www.g4s.com

 

THE CLIENT

G4S is the world's leading international security solutions group which operates in more than 110 countries and has nearly 600,000 employees worldwide. In the UK and Ireland G4S has a turnover of more than £1 billion and over 40,000 employees managed from over 80 offices.

G4S OAKINGTON, IMMIGRATION RECEPTION CENTRE - G4S were contracted to manage the UK Border Agency site at Oakington Immigration Reception Centre, near Cambridge. The centre was formerly an RAF base and has been in operation since March 2000. The planned closure of the site in 2006 was postponed. The site closed in November 2010 with the loss of over 250 staff.

THE OBJECTIVE

Sprint Outplacement Services were contracted to supply Outplacement provision to G4S, for a wide array of management staff members at the Oakington Immigration Centre, Cambridgeshire. The task was to coach participants on the principles of running a successful career campaign, educate each on their unique transferable skills and empower individuals to see a positive outcome to career change, giving each greater confidence in their own skills and abilities.

TYPE OF OUTPLACEMENT SUPPORT / APPROACH

Sprint provided Foundation Career Development Workshops, followed by face to face career coaching on an individual basis.

At the end of each workshop delegates had completed an action plan to move forward in their career transition and were able to make an informed decision as to which support modules they required for the individual face to face career coaching sessions.

Sprint then delivered individual face to face career coaching in the weeks following the workshops.

Face to face career coaching included a number of key modules:

• Individual CV and career assessments
• Individual career guidance and personalised support
• Job market guidance
• Interview skills training and competency based interview questions
• Interview practice sessions
• Modern job search training
• Networking assistance
• Temporary employment / self employment advice
• Confidence building / stress management through life and executive coaching.

During the outplacement support, a number of staff members who had not accepted G4S offer of outplacement help also approached us for career advice, after talking to some of the workshop delegates.

THE OUTCOME

Uptake of the provision was 95%, but after the initial workshops, those that declined asked Sprint directly for assistance. Sprint was able to deliver some ad hoc assistance over the remainder of the time on site to these personnel.

Sprint provided support over and above the initial brief by delivering CVs and Job Market Search assistance to many of the delegates.

Prior to leaving the site, the Centre Manager praised Sprint for the project and commented that his concern over the confidence and stress of some of his staff had been completely removed by the support provided.

The Human Resources Manager commented that she had had excellent feedback from the staff both post-workshop and post-individual career coaching. Many were outlining how much more positive they felt and in a far better place emotionally to move forward constructively.

FEEDBACK

Head of Human Resources and Development, Immigration Services G4S:

“Many thanks for the completion of the Outplacement project and the concluding report. It is evident from reading [the report] that the staff took advantage of your services. My feedback from talking to the staff involved is that they were very impressed with your offerings and thoroughly enjoyed their time with your Consultants. They also felt that what they received help focus their minds on their plans for the future and provided them with skills to assist in their job search.
This has given them a much needed boost during what is a difficult period for them. Thanks again”.

Participants of the Workshop and Career Coaching at G4S Oakington.

• "Very helpful. Has given me motivation to get started on productive job searching, compiling my CV, strategy for career change."
• "A very well presented session, thank you!"
• "Very helpful day. Highlighted some glaring weaknesses in my CV and cover letters. Also gave me a better understanding of job search options."
• "Very useful, feel far more confident now."
• "Very informative and relevant, very well presented."

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BURTON COLLEGE

www.burton-college.ac.uk.com

 

THE CLIENT

A respected Further Education College, employing over 400 full time staff, with over 14,000 full and part time students. The College offers a range of Higher Education courses at various levels: Higher National Certificate, Higher National Diploma, Foundation Degrees, Teacher Training and Masters Degrees.

THE OBJECTIVE

Due to public spending cuts the College had gone through a period of consultancy before reaching redundancy stage. After a level of voluntary redundancies a number of senior faculty staff faced compulsory redundancy, many who had been with the College for over 15-20 years. These were high level members of the teaching and education departments who had spent much of their college employment working long hours, had little experience of unemployment and were now faced with real life change. With a limited college budget to support the staff with outplacement, Sprint were tasked with meeting the needs of the college whilst offering real value for money. Key to their career transition was to formulate a programme that met their practical requirements and training needs, whilst offering emotional and coaching support to enable each to see positive prospects for the future. In addition the programme had to go beyond the career advice offered within the College and allow each delegate to embrace new ideas and think outside the “education” box.

THE TASK

Sprint developed and delivered a number of Career Development Workshops with follow up one–to– one support aimed at:

1. Assessing core values, goals, motivations, strengths and interests.
2. Developing an understanding of their transferable skills outside of the education markets.
3. Re-educating the delegates on CV writing, modern job search techniques, interview techniques, networking and assessing career opportunities.
4. Evaluating their next steps; re-employment, re-training, self employment, consultancy, voluntary or charity work.
5. Managing the emotional aspect of change and redundancy.
6. Providing one-to-one support to improve CVs and offer information, advice and guidance, signposting delegates to the right resource based on requirements.
7. Following up the outplacement support weekly, post workshop, for encouragement and progress reports.

Delegates were also given access to Sprint’s Career Resource Centre for further help 24/7.

THE OUTCOME

Delegates moved from a position of denial and blame to acceptance and optimism.
Each had differing views on the plans ahead and post workshop were working together to encourage each other and take responsibilities for their future career path. Feedback forms from each delegate categorised the outplacement support as 4/5 and 5/5, 4 being very good, 5 being excellent, across all 10 assessment criteria.

Workshop Comments:

• "Excellent. I learnt about the key things that have concerned me about applying for new jobs. Andy and Gary were supportive without being patronising and could not do enough to ensure post-course opportunities. Thanks to both of you."
• "Very informative course, set at a good pace. Thanks to Gary and Andy for a very professional presentation."
• "The course was very comprehensive and provided me with clear strategies for improving my CV and providing me with clear guidance for potential interviews. A most enjoyable course."
• "Excellent course - well worth attending. Good ideas given. Excellent resources."
• "I enjoyed the day and found the input very informative. It has given me food for thought on improving my CV and pointers for interview."

Feedback report from a staff member to the College:
"We had a very useful, supportive, thought provoking day. We are all rewriting CVs as we now know how we should have done them. Andy is going to check them over and give feedback. Everything on the timetable was covered and more besides. Nothing was too much trouble. Andy and Gary could not do enough to ensure that the outcomes were achieved. We have been given a login to let us access further materials etc and this support will be available for some time - which is fantastic. Personally I cannot praise them enough."

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THE LIST (GLOBAL) LIMITED

www.thelistuk.com

 

THE CLIENT

The List UK is the only UK ex-Forces (all ranks, all Services) business, employment and recruitment networking company serving the needs of over a million ex-Forces connected people in the global workplace and employers and recruiters in every economic sector. Through this unique network, The List creates personal recruitment, employment and business opportunities for the remainder of an ex-Forces persons employed life. It is a gateway to employment for ex-Forces people and the virtual 'hub' for anyone who wants to connect and network with ex-Services people in the workplace. Established since 1995 the company went through a management buyout in 2009, with the new CEO being an ex Senior Director from the Army, they are currently expanding the range of services available to ex-Forces personnel with ambitious growth plans for the future.

THE OBJECTIVE

Sprint were chosen after a vigorous selection procedure to develop a range of career transition services to suit the needs of ex-Forces personnel, from those soon to leave the Forces through to service leavers already working within the civilian employment markets. Fundamental to the objective was the capability to deal with all levels from private soldier through to senior director within the Army, Royal Navy, Marines and Royal Air Force, and to have a through understanding of the many varied disciplines and ranks operating within the Armed Forces. With a high percentage of personnel leaving the Armed Forces having never worked within the civilian world the career support delivered needed to consider both “soft”, “hard” and “occupational” skills, whilst talking “plain English” to ensure personnel would embrace the support. It also had to combine relevant information, advice and guidance with a high level of education and career coaching to bring each individual up to speed on civilian employment and how best to market skills developed in the Armed Forces.

THE TASK

1. The 1st task was to swiftly develop Sprint staff’s understanding of the Armed Forces and its operations, disciplines, ranks and specialties. With Sprint’s Training Director being an ex-Army Major (having served with the Educational and Training Services (ETS) Branch) a thorough training module was developed and has been delivered to ensure each staff member understands the Armed Forces, its operation and career policies.
2. Sprint Resource Centre has been further developed in house to give real benefit to the ex-Forces individual with new military content added and is now available directly through The List website.
3. A comprehensive CV writing service has been created made available through The List, with each CV being developed by both an ex-military staff member and a civilian recruitment expert, to ensure all career skills are marketed effectively.
4. A range of remote and face to face career coaching sessions have been launched with each session allowing total flexibility based on the differing requirements of the service leaver. Additional support services are also available to work pro-actively in helping service leavers target the employment market through direct approaches, networking, the internet and recruitment organisations.
5. A range of career workshops have been designed aimed at allowing the ex-Forces individual to assess transferable skills, learn modern job search techniques, understand civilian interview formats and the UK employment market.
6. After feedback a further workshop has also been developed to concentrate on developing interview skills covering a high level of practice and assessment.

THE OUTCOME

The Resource Centre has been recognised as a substantial tool to assist ex-Forces staff in making the transition from the Armed Forces to the civilian world. To date, there has been 100% success rate in feedback from CV development with each participant increasing responses and requests for interview. With one-to-one support each individual has reported a greater understanding of the modern job market and felt in a better position to apply and attend interview. Further development with The List and Sprint is currently underway.

FEEDBACK

Some comments:

• "I would like to thank Andy Murray and Gary Clarke for their support, commitment and personal interest towards my career goals and aspirations and helping the transition into my chosen profession. With their organisational skills, insight and focus I was very quickly able to identify suitable jobs to apply for at the appropriate level and was successful at the multi-stage interview process first time, landing me a top Management Consultancy role. Gentlemen - many thanks!"
• "Thanks a lot for all your advice and the compilation of the new CV, I'm very impressed. The layout and presentation I agree are much clearer and give a better profile than any previous CV's. I'll give it a trial run on the List etc and apply for further positions soonest, keeping you informed of progress. Thanks again."

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THE HCR GROUP

www.hcr.co.uk

 

THE CLIENT

HCR Group is the UK’s largest independent relocation specialist and a leading provider of staff relocation services to the Corporate market, the Public and Private Sectors, Government Departments and the Ministry of Defence, supporting both the staff and the families of those relocating. With 28 year’s experience managing permanent and short-term relocations, they handle over 10,000 relocations per year and are experts in looking after people before, during and after their move – wherever in the world that may be.

THE OBJECTIVE

HCR have long recognised the importance of dual careers in the welfare of the families they support, with a relocating staff member often having a spouse or working partner needing to find new employment in the geographical area they are moving to. With assignments often failing if the relocating partner is unable to find new employment, HCR were keen to develop a new and unique range of working partner career support services to offer to their Clients. Fundamental to the plan was to build a range of services that would be exclusive in the industry, set them aside from the competition and achieve 1st class standards across their extensive public and private sector client base. On discussion with Sprint it was agreed that a flexible range of online, remote and face to face career resources would need to be established; delivering essential local area job knowledge to the working partner, alongside practical and tailored career based support and training, no matter where relocation was taking place.

THE TASK

Working in partnership with Sprint, a range of tailored career support programmes have now been developed that are accessible online, remotely and locally face to face.

1. Sprint’s unique career resource centre has been further developed and tailored to suit the relocation market, with HCR branding and mission statements, and integrated into HCR’s own website for users to access 24/7. Each HCR client can now contact their own Sprint Career Coach directly through the HCR site to support their employment goals.
2. A range of remote career support services has been made available, so HCR client relocating partners can obtain career coaching, information, advice and guidance without the need to travel to a regional office, available whenever it is needed, by phone, e-mail or web.
3. Face to face career support programmes have been developed to suit the varying needs of relocating partners, covering all geographical areas. This support includes all elements of career transition including change management, career assessment and goals, CV preparation, interview training, modern job search techniques, job applications, career action planning through to real time pro-active assistance in targeting job sectors, companies and industries to help market the partner or spouse successfully.
4. Finally additional added value services were provided:
   1. Group career workshops and seminars are now offered to support spouses and partners during group relocations.
   2. A full CV translation and localisation service has been launched aimed at assisting foreign nationals in marketing their skills to the UK employment sector.

THE OUTCOME

With family welfare becoming a vital issue in current relocation projects this area of relocation support is sure to increase in importance.

HCR now have a full programme of working partner career support services that is unrivalled in the relocation industry, can be accessed both remotely and locally and can meet a relocating partners career needs at every level.

Above all the services offer the best possible choice, with value for money, and a passion for customer care, matching the foundations of the HCR business model.

Through offering an even greater element of family support HCR are now poised for further growth; loyalty and renewal rates from their existing client base remain high with excellent potential to secure new business within new and international customers.

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Mitsubishi Electric

www.mitsubishielectric.co.uk

 

THE CLIENT

Mitsubishi Electric R&D Centre Europe (MERCE) is the European R&D Centre from the Corporate R&D organisation of Mitsubishi Electric, based in Guildford, Surrey. The Centre conducts research and development into next generation communication system, image processing technology and recently technologies related to energy and environment.

THE TASK

When Mitsubishi decided to relocate the Centre to Scotland, it meant displacing a significant number of senior research and development employees. Sprint co-coordinated and delivered outplacement support during this restructure, with career development workshops and individual face to face career coaching, creating a supportive environment to gain advice and career guidance. Sprint continues to work closely with the remaining personnel on site to ensure help and assistance through the relocation process.

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Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service

www.rbfrs.co.uk

 

THE CLIENT

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) provides cover 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from 19 fire stations across the county, stretching from Slough and Langley in the east to Lambourn and Newbury in the west. RBFRS employs 447 operational staff including officers, 135 retained staff, 35 control staff and 136 non-uniformed support staff. In February, March and April 2011, Sprint managed an outplacement project delivering face to face individual career coaching to a wide cross section of management staff.

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South West Regional Development Agency

www.southwestrda.org.uk

 

THE CLIENT

South West Regional Development Agency (South West RDA) works for and promotes a modern, stronger and more resilient economy across South West England. The government has confirmed that all RDAs across England will close by March 2012. Sprint were initially approached by the Learning and Development Team to discuss outplacement support for staff leading up to the closure. With a limited budget to spend on outplacement, consideration was also being given to Sprint training the in-house Learning and Development Team and Organisational Development Team to deliver this outplacement and career coaching directly. Sprint tailored a 3 day "career coach" workshop, training each member of staff on how to successfully deliver one to one career coaching and career workshops, also providing each with a diverse tool box of career inventories and practical experience in coaching delivery.

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List of organisations that candidates using our services have secured employment with include: