Skip to content

Overcoming challenges to achieve long term employment

John was quite a challenging candidate to work with coming from the guns and gangs unit: his offence was possession of an imitation firearm and robbery with links to gangs. John excelled during the interview process and was offered an apprenticeship opportunity with one of our framework contractors.

Working towards success

John threw himself into his apprenticeship working hard and impressing both the training provider and the employer. We were always able to communicate with John and found it odd when we struggled to get hold of him in summer 2016. Eventually, his offender manager called me to inform us that he had been recalled to prison for breaching the conditions of his licence. At first, we thought this would be a standard recall procedure, the employer was willing to wait for him to be re-released so he could go back to work and continue his qualification. However, it then came to light that he had also been arrested for a further offence although his OM was still supporting his release so he could continue his qualification. The decision to release John had to be made by the parole board and so we had to wait further, but the employer was still prepared to await the outcome. In November 2016 we were informed that John had been charged with the further offence (John denied any involvement) and the case would go trial but that it could take up to 12 months. John would be held on remand until the trial and so the employer had no choice but to terminate his contract as John could not meet the terms of his employment.

Re:vision kept in contact with probation services throughout and in summer 2017 John was cleared of the further offence, his case had to go back to the parole board again because was still on licence for the first offence. Re:vision spoke to the college and they agreed to re-enrol John back onto the course to complete his qualification. The information was passed on to probation and they used this to help secure his release. Eventually, a hearing was set for December 2017 and the candidate was released back into the community.
Re:vision met with John again in January 2018 and confirmed that we were happy to work with him again to try and broker an opportunity of an apprenticeship to allow him to complete the qualification he had started. The candidate was interviewed by an employer and John did very well at interview again impressing the employer with his knowledge. Following a disclosure meeting and a few internal meetings the candidate was offered a position and started in the position of gas apprenticeship with the new employer and should be able to complete and be qualified within 12 months.

"I feel Procure Plus/Re:vision do a great job in helping people to link with employers and the post-employment support is also very good"

*John - not his real name

Need help, advice or support?

Call us right now on:

0303 030 0030

Alternatively, schedule a call or meeting with one of our team
We have a team of experts ready and waiting to talk you through any queries you have, whether you’re a new or existing customer.