Bristol businesses give ex-offenders another chance

More than a dozen Bristol companies are helping to open doors to employment for ex-offenders.

The companies participated in an  employability workshop organised by Crime prevention charity Key4Life, which has turned around the lives of some of the most marginalised young men in Britain, to help open doors to employment for ex-offenders and create social change and diversity in the workplace.

Key4Life runs 7-step rehabilitation programmes for young men in prison or at risk of going to prison, and one of the core focuses of these programmes is employability training and helping the young men to find good jobs.

For this employability workshop, Key4Life invited 14 companies to conduct mock interviews with 15 young men currently enrolled on the charity’s six-month programme. The companies attending included Yeo Valley, ITS Recruitment, Bristol Port, Sir Robert McAlpine, Bouygues, Bristol Water, Wessex Water, Willmott Dickson, Acorn Recruitment, Galliford Try, Voi Scooters, RG Group, Vinci Construction, and Colas. The young men participating, many of whom had never done an interview before, were smartly suited and booted, and armed with CVs.

Reminiscent of speed dating, the young men each conducted three 10-minute interviews with the companies attending, followed by a group feedback session at the end. Key4Life’s hope was to book as many of the workshop’s participants as possible onto a three-day Work Taster with one of the companies attending, following the event.

Eva Hamilton MBE, Founder & CEO of Key4Life, said: “The event was a huge success, with 14 of our men being offered Work Tasters by the companies attending, which was a record for us. Our aim with Key4Life is to unlock the potential of our young men, many of whom have had very difficult starts in life, and give them another chance. And the companies that came today have given us opportunities in spadefuls, we could not be more grateful.”

One young participant, Corey, was offered a job at the event by ITS Recruitment, which recruits for the construction industry. Presenting Corey with a hard hat at the workshop’s closing feedback session, Simon Vowels, National Sales Director for ITS, announced, “You’re starting with us tomorrow at Taylor Wimpey and you’ve got your first hard hat!”

“Key4Life has helped me massively,” said Corey at the event. “I have totally transformed my life and moved on from the past, and my future is looking a lot better and brighter. I’ve been recommending the Key4Life programme to friends - I tell them ‘contact Key4Life and they will help you change your life’. In fact my brother is coming on the next programme.”

Founded in 2012, over the last 10 years, Key4Life has helped turn around the lives of over 500 young men in prison and at risk of going to prison, and reached over 5000 children through their schools and community work. Withreoffending costing the UK £18.1 Billion a year, employment is the glue that keeps young men away from a life of crime. With an unrivalled track record, a minimum of 60% of Key4Life’s graduates are gainfully employed (versus a government rate of 15%), and the charity’s reoffending rate is a maximum of 14% compared to a government figure of 64%.

With research showing that 50 per cent of companies would not hire an ex-offender, Key4Life’s YOUNITED Flag Award - launched by music legend, Nile Rogers of Chic, in 2019 - is driving social change in the corporate world by encouraging businesses to employ ex-offenders. The first fifteen companies were awarded the YOUNITED Flag by the Lord Mayor of London in September 2021, which included companies operating in the Bristol area such as Yeo Valley, Willmott Dickson, Trade Windows, Sir Robert McAlpine and Acorn Recruitment. Many more companies will be awarded the YOUNITED Flag this year.

Jerry Male, General Manager of The Bristol Port Company, who attended Key4Life’s Employability event in Bristol, said:

“This was our fourth employability workshop with Key4Life, we have been coming and doing interviews at these events for four to five years now. We have put on four or five taster sessions for the men and we offered a young man a job two years ago but unfortunately he didn’t take it any further. But that’s the aim for us, I don’t come up here for the fun of it. The aim is to get somebody across and onto our payroll.

“Key4Life is doing an absolutely fantastic job helping give ex-offenders another chance, and  bringing in employers like us to get involved. We’ve all got to give something back to society, haven’t we? That’s what it’s all about.”