Volunteering at EPIC

Recently our Dublin team had the pleasure of volunteering at the EPIC programme (Employment for People from Immigrant Communities). This is a free programme open to all adults from EU states that are entitled to work in Ireland and those from non-EU states with stamp 4 immigration status. EPICs goal is to support this target group and help them find employment and/or further training and education in Ireland.

The aim of the workshop was to provide CV and phone interview advice, using our recruitment expertise to give insight into the Irish market. We spoke to a group of 16 trainees from Ecuador, Syria, Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Lithuania, China, Nigeria and Uganda. We began the morning with a brief introduction to Marks Sattin and gave them some background on how recruitment works. We then moved on to the presentation which consisted of tips for how to be successful during a phone interview and the best way to structure your CV. Once the presentation was done we gave the trainees the opportunity to ask any questions they had, it was enlightening to see the enthusiasm of the group and hear their questions.

Overall the morning was a great success, we received excellent feedback from the group and we look forward to returning over the coming months.

Below is some feedback on the highlights from the group

‘It was beneficial to learn from the personal experiences of the guest speakers.’

‘It was useful to hear about how recruitment agencies operate and what they do.’

‘It was very enlightening and straight to the point. It also answered questions and issues I was not clear about.’

‘The important part for me was getting in contact with recruiters and believing that the things we read about the business world really do happen.’