Nov20124 Issue 3 2021 27 Supporting Britain’s Back to Work At a time when unemployment statistics seem to be rising daily, with sectors across the board tighten their belts, Opportunity Access is ensuring that people get the relevant support they need to get back into the work force. Opportunity Access is an employment support and learning service that provides personalised and highly intuitive services to its clients. It seeks to be the helping hand that its service users require to help them get back into work, no matter their circumstances or education level. In this way, it offers career redeployment and outplacement services, employability training and up-skilled learning – with each of these, it gives people the tools they need to re-orient themselves in the modern jobs market. Furthermore, it increases their ability to remain at that new job, as Opportunity Access’s training can help them feel far more prepared for professional life. For the last five years that it has been in operation, Opportunity Access has provided this aid to thousands of people. When working with a client, it offers comprehensive assistance methods such one to one advice and guidance with an experienced work mate career coach, group workshops on topic such as commercial awareness, revitalise their CV, polish their interview techniques, perfect how they search and apply for jobs and up-skilled learning with access to over 100 CPD accredited courses. Alongside this, it also offers a service to budding entrepreneurs; these services support their learning, business setup, and assist them through initial challenges. Recently, the UK jobs market has become more volatile than ever – during this time of uncertainty, Opportunity Access has become more committed to supporting Britain in getting back to work. The ethos empowering this commitment, and indeed its company’s attitude in general, is a dedication to personalising its service to each user, equipping them with the tools each person needs to find success in whatever area they wish. It also seeks to provide a highly valued service that its clients will recommend to friends and family; in this way, it hopes its clients will keep it in mind as they progress up the career ladder having received a boost from Opportunity Access. Even after such rapid expansion, it holds to these goals. Today, it has also added to this mission, broadening it to encapsulate making employment and learning accessible for everyone in the UK. Another one of its core values lies in its cosmopolitan approach. It develops its methods out of its drive to see its service users and staff succeed. In doing this in a contemporary way, it can ensure that it is always evolving and updating its services and programs to best suit its clients in a world where employment standards and procedures are ever-changing. This focus on remaining modern and forward thinking requires hard work and tenacity; but it is a challenge Opportunity Access have consistently proven it can rise to. In tandem with the challenge, it faces in this regard, Covid-19 also presented it with a myriad of issues to resolve. Opportunity Access is a personable – and therefore usually face-to-face – business. Due to the pandemic, it quickly had to pivot to a fully remote service to remain afloat and continue providing support to its clients. It wishes to be as effective in this new remote paradigm as it was when it could serve its clients in person. To this end, it streamlined its services greatly, investing in software and utilising online platforms and methods to ensure that it can still connect with its customers on a friendly and intimate level that allows its staff to get to know them. Ultimately, despite the pivot, Opportunity Access has managed to maintain its quality service content and client treatment. In tandem with this, it has steadfastly stuck to its standardised procedure when it comes to working on new programs or training initiatives. To establish an effective training regimen or program, each individual partaking should know the necessary outcomes and KPIs. Then, it encourages its staff to fully immerse themselves in the content of the module, becoming experts on the topic at hand through research, consultations, and the incorporating of existing relevant skills. Internally, it has a two-pronged approach to staff recruitment. Initially, it looks at fulfilling the professional standards the company requires: relevant experience, skills, capabilities, and suchlike. However, after this, it then looks at the candidate as an individual to decide whether they would fit in with the team and with the attitude of open, friendly helpfulness it fosters. Looking forward to a promising future as it heads into 2021, it plans to expand its services further. Eventually, Opportunity Access wishes to become a true ‘one stop shop’ for people seeking back to work support – furthermore, it seeks to further better and improve the online arm of its services that it developed during the pandemic. Due to Covid-19, the UK’s employment rate is the highest it has been since the 80s. Opportunity Employment is here to support the workforce in getting back on its feet. Company: Opportunity Access Ltd Contact: Christine Robinson Website: www.opportunityaccess.co.uk Internally, it has a two-pronged approach to staff recruitment. Initially, it looks at fulfilling the professional standards the company requires: relevant experience, skills, capabilities, and suchlike. However, after this, it then looks at the candidate as an individual to decide whether they would fit in with the team and with the attitude of open, friendly helpfulness it fosters.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTY1MjM3