News from our partner Fedcap: Helping to put jobseekers in the driving seat in partnership with Brighton and Hove Metrobus

Through their extensive network the team at Get Set UK, our Restart Scheme delivery partner in Crawley, recently learnt of a new recruitment drive by local employer Metrobus to hire and train more than 80 new bus drivers.

Building this promising partnership has been a real team effort with the initial introductions brokered by Registration Adviser Jolina from Get Set UK, and the subsequent operational meetings handled by our very own Simon Lanaway and Kyle Young from the Employer Solutions team.

Like many UK employers, Metrobus has been struggling to find suitable staff in 2022. The opportunity to work alongside us and attract new employees who could be upskilled and encouraged onto a new career path is an exciting one, according to Metrobus Deputy Recruitment & Training Co-ordinator Dean LeFevre.

Dean said: “We are really pleased to create a new partnership with Fedcap where we are able to work with them to support their customers back into work.

“Some of them maybe a little nervous or not confident in applying for positions while others may be looking for a new career – some of whom may have worked in their previous occupations for many years.

“Through this collaborative way of working, we can support Fedcap and their customers by providing an insight into the positions we have available, specifically driver vacancies, as well as providing additional support to those that need it.”

Early success

Although our partnership with Metrobus only started in April, the close working relationship has already helped to achieve a number of new job starts for our Brighton customers and those of Get Set UK.

Kyle and Simon recently attended a recruitment seminar at Metrobus’s Lewes Road depot to learn more about the company’s future requirements and gain a better understanding of the business itself. Not only that, but the two also got the opportunity to drive a bus at the depot themselves and find out more about what it takes to become a bus driver!

Metrobus also recently hosted an awareness session, which was attended by eight potential applicants – all of whom have subsequently been offered a guaranteed interview subject to an application for work.

Metrobus itself is part of a larger Group, which includes Great Northern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Southern Railways. Through these exploratory sessions it has been identified that we can play an important role in supporting recruitment across these organisations in the future.

We look forward to sharing more success stories from this project as it develops over the coming months.