Our Chosen Local Charity – UpRising

Alium Partners is proud to have formed a partnership with youth development organisation UpRising to help East London graduates enter the job market. In 2015, we were proud to have been awarded the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Award for Best New Community Programme for our work with UpRising – find out more below.

Since 2014, Alium has been working with UpRising’s Fastlaners initiative, which aims to help unemployed graduates in East London get their first job. We have been providing advice and guidance to job seekers on the Fastlaners programme in a number of ways including:

Mentoring – Since the beginning of the 2015 the Alium team has mentored several Fastlaner graduates. Directors Nigel Peters, Amanda Johnston and Karen Cresswell, and Consultant Chris Williams, have each contributed their time and expertise to the scheme, which has already helped place two graduate into roles.

Career Speaker Panel – On 21st January, Alium Researchers Anja Peebles-Brown and Sara Chahin joined the UpRising Fastlaners Career Speaker Panel, sharing their career journeys and work experience with the programme participants.

Mock Interviews – On 10th February, Alium invited 12 Fastlaners to its London offices to take part in a mock interview day. The entire Alium team was involved, acting as interviewers and providing the candidates with feedback ahead of their real life interviews. One of the participants passed her first stage interview following the workshop and is now through to the next stage.

Work experience – In March 2015, Alium took part in the UpRising work experience programme, helping a programme participant gain crucial experience and skills.

In the future, we are also looking at creating a workshop aimed at those interested in entering the recruitment industry.

Nigel Peters, managing partner of Alium Partners, said, “The unemployment rate may be declining in the UK, but it is still tough for many young people to land their first job. We are delighted to work with UpRising’s Fastlaners programme and use the team’s skills and recruitment experience, along with our extensive network, to help young people get going in their career.”

Alice Memminger, CEO of UpRising, said: “We are very pleased that Alium Partners is working with us and we have had great feedback from the participants. UpRising is an invaluable service for graduates and it makes a huge difference for them to have access to the skills and knowledge of firms like Alium, which helps them prepare for the world of work.”

As a result of our partnership with UpRising, we have received some fantastic feedback from the participants which you can see below:

“The mock interview [with Allium Partners] helped me greatly as I did have an actual interview the following day. It helped me be more aware and prepared for the questions that may and did occur during my actual interview. The volunteers also gave me a boost in confidence. The feedback they gave was great. I learnt about myself. The feedback gave me more ideas and key words I can use in my CV as well.”
UpRising Fastlaner graduate

“Having the opportunity to practice my interview technique with Alium Partners was great. They tailored the questions to the industry which I wanted to go into. Even though it was a mock interview, it felt serious and not like a general chat. The questions were different to the questions I’ve been asked in previous interviews. I was able to ask questions on what type of answers interviewers were looking for and pick up tips on ways I could answer difficult questions. The feedback the volunteers gave me was really useful. The overall experience was truly beneficial. It enabled me to come up with new answers to tough questions.”
UpRising Fastlaner graduate

Alium’s corporate social responsibility work also includes local partnerships with Corporation of London organisations Heart of the City and City Action, as well as its long-established global relationship with children’s charity Operation Smile.