Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers are an American global finance company. Its headquarters are in New York, and its European headquarters are in London, in Canary Wharf.
Lehman Brothers were seeking to increase their diversity and age profile and therefore approached Employment Solutions at Tower Hamlets College to explore whether a more diverse mix of staff could be provided that would also have the right skill and aptitudes, offering an alternative recruitment model for the company.
An internship programme was devised by Tower Hamlets College to ensure that the needs of the company were met. Employment Solutions worked with the company to ensure that skills and aptitudes were developed with the potential staff to ensure that they could be successful in post.
Following the construction of the programme, an internal advertisement was placed across the college, aimed at attracting young people who were following level 3 courses, and were considering employment in the sector as a real alternative to higher education.
Five people were recruited to take part in intensive training following screening interviews to assess their motivation and aptitude for participating in the programme and accessing a career in the sector.
The skills development training identified with Lehman Brothers focussed on:
Teamwork
Assertiveness techniques
Customer service
Change and the need to be flexible in new situations
Using initiative and questioning skills
Understanding diversity issues in the workplace
Communication skills
Training in these areas was intensive and took place over a week. These ranges of skills were developed in the candidates using a variety of innovative methods to ensure that the training involved as many realistic situations as possible. Training included the use of actors to ensure that communication skills, for example are assessed via a mock interview providing the dual purpose of acting as a review of the training whilst preparing candidates for the potential interview with the company. If successful in the interview at the end of the training, candidates were offered six week placements with Lehman Brothers. Those who successfully completed these placements were then offered permanent positions with the company. This resulted in two people gaining employment with Lehman Brothers in the operations team. The other candidates were able to be placed subsequently into work due to the experience they gained during the placement.
Lehman Brothers were seeking to increase their diversity and age profile and therefore approached Employment Solutions at Tower Hamlets College to explore whether a more diverse mix of staff could be provided that would also have the right skill and aptitudes, offering an alternative recruitment model for the company.
An internship programme was devised by Tower Hamlets College to ensure that the needs of the company were met. Employment Solutions worked with the company to ensure that skills and aptitudes were developed with the potential staff to ensure that they could be successful in post.
Following the construction of the programme, an internal advertisement was placed across the college, aimed at attracting young people who were following level 3 courses, and were considering employment in the sector as a real alternative to higher education.
Five people were recruited to take part in intensive training following screening interviews to assess their motivation and aptitude for participating in the programme and accessing a career in the sector.
The skills development training identified with Lehman Brothers focussed on:
Teamwork
Assertiveness techniques
Customer service
Change and the need to be flexible in new situations
Using initiative and questioning skills
Understanding diversity issues in the workplace
Communication skills
Training in these areas was intensive and took place over a week. These ranges of skills were developed in the candidates using a variety of innovative methods to ensure that the training involved as many realistic situations as possible. Training included the use of actors to ensure that communication skills, for example are assessed via a mock interview providing the dual purpose of acting as a review of the training whilst preparing candidates for the potential interview with the company. If successful in the interview at the end of the training, candidates were offered six week placements with Lehman Brothers. Those who successfully completed these placements were then offered permanent positions with the company. This resulted in two people gaining employment with Lehman Brothers in the operations team. The other candidates were able to be placed subsequently into work due to the experience they gained during the placement.