Smart Works Greater Manchester

Have you got your ticket yet? Our fabulous Fashion & Fizz event is on Thursday 14th November, at the beautiful Mottram Hall. Tickets are on sale NOW! ✨ We'll have an incredible rail of designer clothes for sale, as well as a glass of fizz and canapes. Go and buy your ticket now before they sell out! Click here to get your tickets - https://lnkd.in/eNtvXnMs

Feedback like this is the reason Smart Works exists, and it makes us so happy to hear it straight from our clients. 👐 A welcoming environment where you are free to focus on the interview ahead. 👜 An opportunity to take the worry and stress away from finding an outfit. 💡 That feeling of knowing you're able to put your best foot forward and shine. Thank you to our client for this feedback, it means the world to know this is the impact of our service 💙 #SmartWorksGreaterManchester #SupportingWomen #EmpoweringWomen

This #meaningfulmonday we want to thank everyone who contributed to our Big Give Women's & Girls Campaign. We raised the fabulous total of £20,084 which will help us continue to transform the lives of unemployed women across Greater Manchester by supporting, inspiring, and empowering them with the skills and the confidence they need to get a job. We are really grateful for all of those organisations and those individuals who showed their support by donating. And a massive thank you to The Big Give Trust for matching all donations 💙 #WGMF #ThankYou Big Give Louisa Hussey

We're delighted to have been shortlisted for This Is Manchester Awards®️ with our incredible partners over at N Brown Group, for Organisation Making a Difference in the Community award. N Brown regularly (and very generously!) donate clothes, shoes, bags and accessories to us for our clients to feel their very best at interview and we're so grateful for their support. It really does make a huge difference to have these pieces available for our clients - thank you for your support 💙

“I don’t have anything “work-y” to wear” We are so thrilled to be able to offer styling for our younger clients – those that are leaving college and have spent the past few years wearing clothes that they feel comfortable in. Not being “professionally dressed” is a real stumbling block for many – they may simply not even own a pair of shoes that aren’t trainers. We have one day left to raise £3000 to hit our target of £20,000 - will you help us reach it? Please donate all you can using this link because “looking professional” is something we can easily sort! https://lnkd.in/eymzCqKc

"But, what if I hate the job?" We’ve heard a version of this over and over again from our young clients going for interviews. What if I hate the job? This thought and belief is quite frightening for many young people, especially if they've never had any role models who DO enjoy their work. Our coaches help them to understand that each interview is fantastic experience, that you never know what your first job can lead to. That all work can open doors, teach you new skills – should be viewed as a first step and most importantly, it doesn’t have to be forever. You can imagine the relief that brings to many of our clients. Please donate all you can using this link because young women need our help to get their first job AND know that it doesn’t have to be permanent. https://lnkd.in/eymzCqKc

“We see the big shiny offices, and have no idea how to get in” amplifying this clients voice is today’s #meaningfulmonday message. Speaking with young unemployed women at careers fairs and at colleges, they’re telling us how daunting job hunting can be – where to even start? How do you even get a foot in the door of the shiny office buildings when you’ve not got any ‘experience’. We can give these young women career coaching to help them navigate the world of “can’t get a job without experience” when they don’t even know where to get the experience. Can you help us help them? We need £5000 to support our work with young women for this years International Day of the Girl – and we can get this matched via a platform called The Big Give. Please give all you can using this link: https://lnkd.in/eymzCqKc

Getting a job means so much more than ‘being employed’. For the young women we see, they’re craving independence. So they can pay for driving lessons. So they can travel. So they can move out of the small town they’ve been brought up in. By offering them career coaching, we’re able to help them make really good decisions for the right now – finding a job that can help them earn some money and BE independent. So please support our International Day of the Girl campaign by making a donation to Smart Works Greater Manchester. We have an unbelievable opportunity to double any donations made during this week through a partner called The Big Give. Please use this link to make your donation. https://lnkd.in/eymzCqKc Jan Iceton Alison Lever Cara Mahon Corina Herhenteris

We were shocked to learn that 379,000 women not in employment, training or education are between the age of 16 and 25. We have a plan to reach them, but there's still more to do - and we need your help. Please support Smart Works Greater Manchester for International Day of the Girl 2024 - We're aiming to raise £5000 over the next week. We're also thrilled that this is happening during our partnership with The Big Give - which will MATCH FUND every penny we raise this week - up to £20k! The Big Give donation platform officially opens TODAY, Thursday 10th October and runs for a week. Please use this link to make your donation today. Transforming women’s lives through job success: https://lnkd.in/eymzCqKc Helping the young women of Greater Manchester is an ongoing process, and over the next week we're going to be sharing with you the things that worry this age group the most when it comes to work, and how we combat these fears. #breakingbarriers #WGMF #fundraising

Our chair of trustees, Jan Iceton and treasurer Alison Lever have been at Pro Manchester's Good Employment week event today, sharing our insights and recommendations from The Smart Works Unemployment Index. Earlier this year we launched the second Smart Works Unemployment Index, a revealing report investigating the experiences women face when looking for work and the unfortunate reality that the conditions under which they seek work are deteriorating. We heard the first-hand experiences of over 3,700 of our clients across the UK about their feelings on the employment market and their desperation about finding a job.    To put it simply, 2023 was a bleak year.    Our clients, all of different ages, ethnic backgrounds and communities, told us that they found it harder to secure work, despite applying for more jobs and attending more interviews. We have also heard about the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis and the desperation it is creating.   Although the data from the report wasn’t what we would have hoped to hear, we remain driven by the change our community can bring and the potential we can unlock together. We believe women are one of the greatest assets we have in our economy and that their inclusion is critical. With clear recommendations to employers, the Unemployment Index is just one step towards ensuring women can easily enter and stay in the workforce. We remain dedicated to supporting unemployed women across Greater Manchester into work, and look forward to reaching even more in the coming months.