Fastlane to work for graduates
By Louise Hale
19 July 2010
A new programme has been launched to help
graduates from east London find work after recent figures revealed
that up to 270 students are competing for every graduate job.
Fastlaners: Getting Graduates off the Bench
and into Work is a two-week intensive crash course being rolled out
across Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham in a bid to get recent
graduates on to the employment ladder.
The project will offer a raft of advice on
things that could win the unemployed a job including voice
training, team working and workplace etiquette.
The project has been set up by the Bethnal
Green-based Young Foundation and officially launched last Thursday
at Canary Wharf.
The courses also aim to help build young
people’s confidence, widen their networks and awareness of the
labour market, and offer support from mentors from the private,
public and voluntary sectors.
Recent research suggests graduates from
certain backgrounds are much more likely to be unemployed.
Overall, nine per cent of students who left UK
universities in the summer of 2009 remained unemployed by January
2010. For white graduates the rate was 7.8 per cent, but for
black/black British of African origin it was much higher at 17.1
per cent and for Asian British of Bangladeshi origin, the rate was
16.3 per cent.
Co-founder of Fastlaners Rushanara Ali, who is
now MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, said: “It is madness to invest
tens of thousands of pounds providing young people with a superb
education – but then to do nothing to help them put that education
to work.
“It would be like training up world-class
footballers and then leaving them all on the substitutes’
bench.
“This project is designed to ensure graduates
get tough but supportive feedback, and are aware that they have to
work many more times harder to get into work. Watching the young
people training together with help from employers is fantastic.
It’s like the Apprentice meets Dragon’s Den.”
Fastlaners recently ran a successful pilot
programme and the first course was held in June. Over 90 per cent
of the students who completed an initial pilot course were
subsequently given jobs or placements.
There are two programmes in September and
October offering around 25 places on each course. Visit
www.fastlaners.org to apply.