Posts tagged DWP
Arras People Become Accredited DWP Suppliers
Jul 27th
Arras People became formal DWP and JobCentre Plus accredited suppliers in July 2010. The award came as recognition for the work carried out for the “Jobsearch Support Service for Newly Unemployed Executives” since April 2009.
The JobSearch Support Service is aimed at recently unemployed project management professionals and is a 1-2-1 service with an Arras People consultant. The service is open to anyone currently in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance and the aim of the service is to help project management professionals improve their job searching. The 1-2-1 sessions cover areas such as CVs, knowing where to look for new opportunities, how to apply for roles, and interview techniques. The service is unique because it is totally tailored to the project management marketplace.
Arras People has received hundreds of referrals since last year (the project management marketplace was certainly not immuned from the effects of the economic downturn) and unfortunately we continue to receive referrals each day – the marketplace is still in a state of flux.
The accredited supplier status from the Department for Work & Pensions and the JobCentre Plus is recognition for Arras People’s continued services for unemployed professionals and also a welcome boost to the consultants here at Arras who carry out the services.
If you or a colleague or friend need help and support please read the service overview and details on how to access the service, here are a just a few of the professionals we’ve been able to help;
“I got it! I start on Tuesday on a 6 month contract thats 90% certain to continue indefinitely
Thank you so much for your help, after 7 months and hundreds of job applications I applied for 2 with the new cv and got one of them, 50% success rate result!
Have great weekend, I will
“Hopefully you remember me, you helped me with my CV back in February.
I think we finished up working on the cv by the 20th of Feb give or take a few days, and I was in a new role by the 28th of Feb. I am contracting but on double what I was on in BT, I now work for local goverment in project management. I have kept meaning to send a thank you for your help with the CV.
I really feel it made the difference, and the person who hired me has confirmed this, as my cv really stood out against others. Infact my (phone) interview was 6 minutes long my CV was that strong.
Thanks again for the help, it really made a big differrence to me and helped me get back on track.
Will get intouch in a few months when I am ready to move on to work on my CV again via the service.”
“Thank you for speaking with me last week re help on answering technical questions at interview. What you said must have worked as Ive landed a project managers position in Leicester on a 12 month contract. Thank you for all your help.
I have been impressed with the support that Arras and you in particular have offered. I would certainly be looking to use your services again when I start looking for jobs in the future.”
Arras People Attains National Acclaim with JobCentre Plus
Jan 19th
Arras People, the Project Management Recruitment people, attained an unexpected high mark last week when they crossed a threshhold set by the Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) of 300 referred candidates to their JobSearch Support Services for Newly Unemployed Executives, Professionals and Graduates.
The revelation came to be shortly after advisers from JobCentre Plus branches across the UK brought to our attention that our accounts had been “suspended” last week. Puzzled, we got in touch with our contact at the DWP, who laid out what was happening. When a Third Party Provisions Provider like Arras People has received exactly 299 referrals for the Services, the reference code attached to that provider is immediately suspended from use, as computers have deemed it obsolete. Once the new reference code has been established in the database, JobCentre Plus advisers can go back to referring to the Third Party Provider as they did before.
Subsequently, the reference code has now been changed to BOY / 29867, and all referrals should run smoothly until the next 299 candidates are put through.
The need for the change illustrates that Arras People’s popularity as a provider had swelled to the point that accommodations had to be made. Statistics have illustrated this, primarily through the figures surrounding repeat referrals from both specific advisers and branches, which have been a constant since Arras People began providing the Services last April. The examples pop up each month, including an intriguing scenario early in January when an adviser made his first ever referral to Arras People, then quickly followed with three more that same day. It remains the highest referral day to Arras People since we’ve commenced offering the Services.
Other examples include the current list we have of referring branches, which list data as of Monday 18th January 2010. The findings denote that:
- Arras People have received referrals from 142 branches across the UK.
- 50 branches have referred to Arras People more than one time (35%).
- 25 of the branches have called in referrals at least three times (17.5%)
- 13 (9.1%) have at sent at least five candidates our way.
- Those 13 branches alone make up 38.4% of all referrals to Arras People.
- Three branches have referrend 10 or more candidates.
Other factors that drive the popularity include feedback from referred clients:
“Nicola’s forthrightness, attitude and demeanor are a breath of fresh air in the industry, and it does nothing less than give Arras a reputation for hiring quality people, in my humble opinion. Please feel free to ask me anything else about my experience with your company, or otherwise. I made sure I notified the JSA of the job you did, and recommended you for continuing services through them.” - LS*
“The CV feedback combined with other things I was doing enabled reformating the information, so people are now calling me about jobs. I think the service is efficient in terms of giving specific industry advice.” – FP
“I like the idea of the consultancy being quite flexible – it was advertised as improving your CV, but because I had already done that through Arras, I asked if I could use the consultancy for interviewing skills and Mick Hides agreed. I have told the JobCentre that I would recommend it to anyone and have asked them to flag it. I thought it was a great service.” - BM
“A highly professional service offered by experts in their specialist sector. With the job market providing so little feedback to enable candidates to revise their approach to be successful, the Arras service is invaluable!!” - MS
*Initials of commenters are used to protect their anonymity
For more information about the JobSearch Support Services from Arras People, go to our DWP web page.
