Working in Partnership to support Young People Argos & Jobcentre Plus

Argos & Jobcentre Plus Partnership Establishing the Partnership Christmas 2011 – A more structured approach Our results so far Plans for the future What has worked well for us © Argos 2010

Establishing the Partnership Working in partnership for almost 5 years Commercial focus Sharing of Industry knowledge Support for new stores and Peak recruitment Local relationships built up between store managers and account managers © Argos 2010

Christmas 2011 – A more structured approach Christmas sees an increase in headcount of 10,000 Opportunity to provide work experience and a trial period for recruitment Clear communication to Stores and Jobcentre Plus colleagues Consistent selection process commencing September Placements October to December © Argos 2010

Our Results so far We recruited 937 work experience colleagues over Christmas (almost 10% of total colleagues) We offered further employment to 277, almost 30% 98% of colleagues accepted a position with us Great feedback from our store teams! © Argos 2010

Feedback “We were pleased to be able to give 3 of our placements a job and the confidence to get back into work” “Both colleagues showed great potential one scored 100% in the mystery shopper hot topic!” “One has now found work somewhere else due to the fact that he gained experience at Argos” “The job centre set up a really great training pack with lots of store specific content” “Simon came on a placement in Oct 2010, he now runs the stock room in the absence of the team leader, trains our new colleagues and is working towards becoming a team leader himself in Sept 2012” © Argos 2010

Feedback “They used their skills to add to their CV’s and had confidence to go and seek permanent work” “At the beginning of Sept we took on 10 colleagues and a further 8 mid Sept, of these 15 were given fixed term contracts for Peak” “Peter, 22 joined in Nov after not being able to get paid work since 16, he has received numerous ‘Tell Argos’ compliments and received a letter from Terry Duddy complementing him on his manners” “Unfortunately budget doesn’t allow us to recruit on a permanent basis despite us being keen to do so!” © Argos 2010

Plans for the future Small number of initiatives but great implementation Structured 6 week work experience placement Clear guiding principles Accurate monitoring and review Links to other routes to work Supporting material Recognition for successful placements Channelled through one source © Argos 2010

What has worked for us? Established relationships Open and honest conversations Talking about success internally Clear principles and belief in what we do © Argos 2010

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