Torque, the leading ‘end to end’ logistics service provider, continues to demonstrate commitment to its local communities not only by way of its renowned charity work but also with its on-going support for relevant training and employment initiatives.  Most recently, Torque has been working closely with Job Centre Plus (JCP) and Bradford College which has resulted in the offer of employment to six local people.

Earlier in the year, Torque’s senior management met JCP at the Bradford Employment and Skills board. Following this introduction senior management and JCP met to discuss the governments’ Get Britain Working measures and in particular the Sector Based Work Academy (sbwa), a scheme created to support people currently registered for Jobseekers Allowances, to get back into work.

The Job Centre works closely with training providers, in this instance, Bradford College, to develop courses for pre-employment training. These courses are designed specifically to meet the needs of particular businesses and the prospective employer is actively encouraged to participate. Job Centre Plus advisors usually put forward around 16 people for each of the pre-employment training sessions.  This is followed by actual work experience.

Torque’s sbwa candidates undertook their work experience at the company’s two Bradford sites.  Having successfully completed pre-employment training and their work experience, each candidate was granted a guaranteed job interview.  16 people started the pre-employment training, 14 completed work experience and six people were offered jobs immediately.

The whole ethos of sbwa is to provide people with a real opportunity to train, gain work experience as well as to build confidence and employability skills. The employer also benefits through being able to recruit a workforce with the right skills to grow their business.

Torque enthusiastically embraced the whole concept and was involved in all the stages of the process, including working with Bradford College to create a video for the tutor to show participants what Torque was all about and what the jobs entailed.  They also organised a Q&A session to ensure that the candidates had the opportunity to discuss the business and put forward any questions they had about it.

Peter Griffin, Head of Support Services at Torque commented:

This, our first experience with the sbwa has been really successful and we believe it is a great way to recruit.  It provides us with access to people who really want to work and that have a good grounding in the basic skills we need. We will certainly be participating again.

DWP Minister for Employment, Mark Hoban, said: “Work experience, training and a guaranteed job interview is a winning combination for jobseekers, and it’s great for businesses who can make sure they get the right recruit for the job.  Jobcentre Plus takes on around 10,000 vacancies every working day and this is an excellent way of making sure jobseekers have the skills and experience they need to take them up.”