Journey to Employment
D&A co-delivered the J2E Pilot in Southampton, as a specialist partner offering training on Assistive Technology (AT) and strategies derived from lived experience of disability. The J2E programme is a Jobcentre Plus initiative designed to support disabled job seekers into work, focusing on things such as CV writing, job searching and interview techniques.
The integration of technology to the scheme proved very successful, with a demonstrable positive impact on job search success rates – the highest employability rates of all J2E programmes. Of the 22 people who completed the full programme, 50 per cent moved into employment or volunteering roles.
Through providing tailored support and access to tools and technology, the initiative equipped disabled job seekers with personalised strategies while tackling digital exclusion which is higher amongst disabled people. The benefits of digital inclusion initiatives are well documented, recognising that digital exclusion often exacerbates social and economic inequalities.
The core achievements of the J2E programme included:
- Providing participants on the J2E scheme with a working knowledge of how to use specific AT that best supported their needs.
- Ensuring participants appropriately identified their learning styles and subsequently established which apps/ software were useful to them.
- That participants had access to AT and the necessary training at their Job Clubs/ Employment Hubs.
- Giving participants the opportunity to use AT at various points throughout the J2E course, from researching, to writing CVs and covering letters, to filing their applications.
- Boosting employability rates amongst J2E participants.
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