First anniversary of the Hub Online: celebrating a year of success and exciting innovation
This week we’re celebrating the Health & Care Jobs Hub‘s launch of Hub Online – a pioneering interactive digital platform designed to support local job seekers into health and care roles. Over the last year, the Hub team – part of the ICS People Programme – have led the way in this Mayor’s Academy-funded project, by developing innovative targeted courses and content for south east London.
With their support, and in close collaboration with employers and education providers, hundreds of local people have secured new jobs or undertaken tailored employability courses and work experience in health and social care. Watch this video featuring our partners and local job seekers speaking at a recent event with Southwark College, about the difference the Hub has made for them.
Hub Manager, Bach Luu Kaparia says two words best sum up what lies at the heart of the Hub’s success: collaboration and innovation. “The Hub Online was co-designed with health and care partners to better meet the needs of local job seekers. So, where they identified gaps or needs we either pulled together, adapted or developed from scratch new content and resources.
“For example, engagement with local NHS health employers highlighted that too many candidates who were unsuccessful at application or interview stage just didn’t understand what the recruiters were looking for. So, we created targeted support tools for use on Hub Online, such as a step by step video guide to navigating through the NHS application, an interactive section on understanding an NHS job description, and for those reaching interview stage, a video on NHS values, which is unique to Hub Online.
“Recently we also launched monthly webinar Masterclasses to boost job seekers’ success with NHS job applications and interviews. These interactive sessions enable our team to directly engage with participants, highlighting the content and approach recruiters are after and taking questions. So far, the response has been fantastic and we believe the South East London Integrated Care System (SEL ICS) Health & Care Jobs Hub is the only one taking this approach in the Mayor’s Programme.”
In collaboration with health and care partners, the team has also developed new virtual work experience (VWE) courses, providing users with vital evidence of personal development for their CVs, which is recognised by employers. More recently, content has been added on working in Offender Care and Community Mental Health and linked to the recently launched ICS Mental Health Careers and Skills Framework.
Bach Luu Kaparia said: “We’ve been really excited by the response to our free VWE courses and I’m very grateful to the employer partners who helped us develop them. We’re now working on a new VWE course for Primary Care due to launch this autumn – another first for south east London!”
The Jobs Hub targets those who are underrepresented in the health and care workforce and so the team have also ensured they also have a strong face-to-face offer, complimenting the digital support, to meet a range of needs and preferences. Over the last 12 months the team have exhibited at over 14 events and co-hosted two health and social care career and recruitment events.
A recent pilot event with social care employers aimed to streamline and improve the recruitment process by offering job seekers the opportunity of an interview at the event. The team trialled the new approach – supporting and screening candidates in advance to ensure they were job-ready, which resulted in over 80% being offered roles on the spot – an excellent outcome which the team are now building on.
One notable success for the team has been the co-development of tailored employability programmes with local education and health partners. These government-funded Sector based Work Academy Programmes or SWAP courses, aim to develop employment skills and large SEL health employers such as Guy’s & St Thomas’ and Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust have previously used them to support their recruitment.
During the last academic year, 18 SWAPs have been delivered in collaboration with partners across south east London supported by the Hub, with over 400 job seekers. Building on the success of the established NHS-focused courses, the Hub team working with the local college and providers in Southwark, recently piloted a unique course tailored for Primary Care, which has resulted in over 60% of candidates securing a job at a local GP surgery.
Bach says: “To date over 1,000 local job seekers have registered on the Hub Online. Of course, we could have aimed far higher given the demand, but we wanted quality over quantity and a number our small team could engage with, and support effectively. It’s not always you can say, and see, the difference you’ve made, but I’m incredibly proud of what our team and our partners have delivered so far – it’s a really tangible success story.”