In recent weeks the Talent Match North London partnership, led by Collage Arts with Rinova, Enterprise Enfield, KORI and Metropolitan has been designing, testing and shaping our programme of delivery. We’ve also been working with Collage Arts to recruit the young people who have formed the initial North London Youth Board, which incudes Mahmut Gozuag of Rinova.
At the Chocolate Factory, the partnership has been working hard to complete the new Talent Match London office to offer a fresh new environment for young people to explore, learn and work in. The space has been designed to be used multi-functionally where young people familiarise themselves with a different kind of working space and can observe it being used in different ways first-hand.
One of our objectives is to offer the space to employers as an interview and ‘meet the young people’ space, benefiting both prospective employers and young people. This also creates a fantastic opportunity for the partnership to gather valuable research about employers needs, build relationships and introduce candidates to job vacancies where available and suitable.
This approach has already proved successful as our first employer has given a job opportunity to a young person starting Talent Match London. Cocorose London is a high-end UK-based shoe manufacturer and one of the fifty-five businesses working from the Chocolate Factory 2 creative hub in Haringey. They have embarked on a new venture with a pop-up shop located in London’s Monmouth Street in Covent Garden. Birsu Huseyin (22, pictured right) is the successful candidate and she enrolled onto Talent Match London through KORI in May. An Enfield resident, Birsu had been unemployed for over 18 months and was interested in working in the Fashion Industry. Birsu attended several group and one-to-one sessions with the Collage Arts team to identify needs, develop skills and make the link with an employer to complete the first stage in her journey. Whilst in work, she will continue to receive aftercare and support to help sustain a productive career.
We are also putting the final touches to the activities that we will deliver, which include Life and Career Coaching, and have been joined by Esther Poyer, who is a Creative Life Coach working with Rinova on its delivery. Esther brings six-years of professional experience as a Production Coordinator and Assistant Director in the UK’s Film and TV industries, and with a successful career as a Researcher, Executive and Education Assistant in Theatre and Performing Arts.