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As a Recruitment Manager at John Lewis & Partners, it’s important to me to promote inclusivity and diversity within the employment landscape – but there’s definitely a real difference between saying and doing.

I work within the distribution side of the business, and we’re always keen to find new ways to channel our ‘Force for Good’ mentality to support employability across our community. Becoming an Enterprise Adviser in a Special Educational Needs (SEN) environment offered me an active way to create real opportunities for young people who I believe need more chances.

A shared desire to drive change

When I heard about the role, I knew that The Woodlands School would be the perfect fit. I’d already met one of their staff members at a °µÒ¹³ÉÈËÊÓƵ Hub event, where we’d chatted about the limitations of mainstream work experience offerings. Joining them as their Enterprise Adviser seemed like a unique way to formalise this relationship, converting our conversations into action.

Woodlands specialises in providing SEN support for young people between four and nineteen, so I knew that the inclusive work placement model we already offered at John Lewis could help. Together, our ambition is to empower young people to challenge preconceptions and gain the skills they need to succeed – whatever their ambition.

Creating meaningful encounters for everyone

From my recruitment background, I’ve learned that formality doesn’t always suit everybody. That’s why I prefer to reduce the stressful structures associated with work experience, in favour of creating an organic space where people can naturally show their strengths.

Conveniently, Woodlands has its own onsite enterprise facility – a versatile, functional and creative space where young people can hone their skills, learning things like woodwork and food preparation. It’s perfect for the ambitions of any Enterprise Adviser because it replicates a professional environment without forcing anyone to leave their comfort zone; not to mention you can grab lunch in their cafe too!

We’ve recently started providing Woodlands a space to run a pop-up school in our cafeteria, where the profit they make selling their creations is reinvested back into their enterprise. That way, the whole operation benefits from trusting the young people to push their own boundaries.

Employability is important, but in an SEN environment the priority shifts to developing social skills as well. So, when young people from the school try working at our site, we tend to assign them quite straightforward tasks. This means they can concentrate on acclimatising to an environment with new people and experiences.

Making that first taste of work less challenging is a great way to develop the confidence of young people integrating from an SEN environment – and best of all, most businesses can do it. In fact, I’ve just invited another large local employer to our warehouse to prove that offering meaningful encounters to non-mainstream schools doesn’t have to be complicated.

The business benefits of volunteering

At John Lewis, we strive to be an employer of choice. We want to be at the forefront of change – and being an Enterprise Adviser has helped me to drive that on a local level. It’s also aided my professional development too, as my own job has become more focused on early careers initiatives.

For the business, it’s a bonus that working within SEN environments has given us access to a mostly untapped talent pool. I think it’s really raised our profile as an employer and a retailer among young people from different backgrounds too – so it’s heartwarming to know that if any of the young people from Woodlands work with us in the future, then we planted that seed through the Enterprise Adviser scheme.

Becoming an Enterprise Adviser

If you’re considering volunteering as an Enterprise Adviser, my honest advice would be to just get started. There’s plenty of support available to help you on your journey, and you’ll never know how much you could help until you try. The more of us that add social value to our work, the stronger our collective community impact – and if you’ve got the urge to support others in the first place, you’re the right person for the role.