Case Study:

Employment Coaching and Training Programs to engage Diverse Workforce 

Stockport homes over 50s

With rising recruitment challenges due local skills shortages and a departure of older workers from the labour market, Grassroots Consulting worked with SHG to design and deliver a range of training and support services to improve recruitment and retention of Over 50s jobseekers.

When we needed a recruitment specialist to support our service and co-deliver training, Caroline was the perfect choice. She worked in partnership with my team, blending her skills and abilities at both the design and delivery phase. Caroline looked like she’d been part of the team for years. Delivering informative content alongside our existing training team. These sessions were some of our most innovative and exciting and it was a pleasure to work alongside side her. 
Caroline uses her fabulous interpersonal skills to understand your requirements and then brings in her laser like approach to organisation to deliver your vision. It’s always been a pleasure to work with Caroline and I genuinely can’t think of a joint project that hasn’t been a success. I’d always choose Caroline for all my recruitment consultancy and employment training needs.
Amanda Ward, Head of Inclusion
We worked with Caroline recently on a programme of Over 50’s Employment Support events. Working together, we designed and delivered several events helping local people find work. Caroline’s expertise, support and knowledge of the sector was invaluable in making the programme successful. The feedback from the attendees highlighted how informative, engaging, and useful her coaching was in helping them move forward in their efforts to find employment. On a personal level, Caroline was very professional, and it was a pleasure to work with her.
Christopher Hughes, Head of Training

The Challenge: Skills Shortages and Barriers to Employment

As a consequence of the pandemic, many active jobseekers and employees have left the labour market and not returned, most notably those aged 50+. Amidst rising recruitment challenges and skills shortages across a number of sectors, a range of government initiatives were launched to encourage more older workers to remain in or return to work.

SHG, a local employment support provider, was tasked with developing a range of support services for local residents aged over 50 who were unemployed and economically inactive but who wished to return to the workforce. This included addressing the impact on personal finances of pandemic and cost of living rises, as well as digital exclusion, age discrimination and barriers to employment at all stages of the recruitment process.

The Solution: Jobseeker Engagement and Training for an Older Workforce

Together with Stockport Council, DWP and JCP, we worked closely with SHG to initiate discussions with key stakeholders and employers on age-friendly strategies to tackle local skills needs and analyse data relating to sector-based employment gaps. Exploring how skills and training provision could better deliver opportunities for over-50s, we then helped design a series of group training workshops and events to increase jobseeker confidence and resilience and provide one-on-one coaching.

A series of three workshops were held over a six-month period, engaging with c.100 older residents and delivering in-depth support for 46 targeted individuals with advanced needs. This included full-day sessions to dispel the myths of age-related employment barriers, explore modern job-search techniques and help attendees to overcome obstacles to starting and staying in work.