What we are doing
Among the employment initiatives that contribute to our corporate social responsibility agenda are:
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Encouraging applications from the community
Through our partnership with the South Bank Employers' Group (SBEG) via their Waterloo Job Shop, we recruit a significant number of local people each year.
Roles include housekeeping assistants and administrative staff. With SBEG, we look for different ways to promote and encourage local employment.
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Apprenticeships
The Government made a commitment to increase the number of apprenticeships within the public sector in 2009.
In 2010 we identified 120 apprenticeship opportunities over a number of clinical areas. Promotional events have also generated more than 90 apprenticeship opportunities for current employees.
How an apprenticeship helped Lee May.
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Work placements for hands on experience
Students and job seekers are offered 2 week work placements to give them hands-on-experience in the workplace. This can help them to plan their (for those people still at school or college) and can improve a person's chance when applying for a job or courses.
In December 2009, this work received a highly commended Healthcare Recruitment Award.
How a work placement helped Ann Stroud.
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Helping people with a disability into work
We provide work experience placements for people with a disability through our alliances with a specialist organisations Remploy, Status Employment and Royal London Institute for the Blind (RLIB).
Project SEARCH
Project SEARCH is an education programme designed to give students with learning difficulties/disabilities the opportunity to develop employability skills through real work experience.
The Department of Health ran 14 pilot sites in 2010/11 and were the only pilot in London. We provided work experience for 6 - 8 students with autistic spectrum conditions. Each student spent 36 weeks with us during the year, training in real work settings and completing up to 3 job rotations, supported by both a tutor and job coach.