Aspire has continued to promote inclusive recruitment, work with local employers to develop their recruitment practices and help disadvantaged local people to find employment.

Lucy Townsend (HR Manager at the University of Oxford Department of Engineering Science) shares her experiences of engaging with Aspire and how her team have benefited from this:

“I attended an Aspire workshop on inclusive recruitment in January and found their work and passion really inspiring. Following this I organised a bespoke workshop for the Department’s HR team to really think through how we could become engaged with Aspire’s work as well as take the learning to support our own recruitment practices.

We now actively think about each recruitment and whether it may be suitable for an Aspire placement. We had a need in May/June for some additional temporary admin support in the HR team. Aspire understood our needs and were able to provide a candidate called Manuela with an interest in HR. The Aspire staff are there to provide support with any issues but Manuela was a dedicated, hardworking, friendly person and it was a delight having her in the team. It was nice to be able to provide an opportunity for someone to gain work experience although, as she was doing work, I felt it important that this was on a paid basis.

It is a great way of reaching people who would not consider looking at the university for employment as well as being able to support people back into employment and longer-term careers.”

To find out more about our recruitment support services please contact Rosa:

[email protected]