Starbucks Birmingham recruits refugees
We are pleased with the initial successes of our partnership with Starbucks, especially with our recent Starbucks Employment course held in Birmingham where 75% of learners have received job offers. This is an important partnership for us as Starbucks have pledged to employ 10,000 refugees globally. This aligns directly with our goal of getting 25,000 refugees into median salary jobs over the next 10 years, which we are well on our way to doing!
The course ran for 5 days at our training centre in Sandwell and its aims were to prepare the learners for working as a Barista by teaching customer service skills, core business goals and expectations, key language skills and information about the Starbucks brand. Our learners also enjoyed a trip out to a Starbucks store as part of the course, which gave them first-hand experience of what it’s like to work in a busy coffee shop.
On the last day of the course we had 3 representatives from Starbucks come in to talk to the learners about the company. They also conducted mock interviews, which were used as a pre-selection tool and practice for real interviews the following week.
The sessions were fun and interactive; all 4 learners got thoroughly involved with all aspects of them. 3 out of the 4 learners were invited to interview at a local Starbucks store and we are pleased to say that they have all been offered positions and will be working for the company very soon.
We’ve had some great feedback from Kya, regional HR business partner for Starbucks, about the course: “I would like to specifically call out the incredible hard work from Helen, she is a credit to your organisation with her passion and enthusiasm – from her interactions with our local store manager to making us feel so welcome on the day - I can’t thank Helen enough. The work that Helen and the team did prior to the programme meant that the candidates we met with where at a high level which set us up for a really great session, and ultimately 3 new recruits!”
We will be continuing our work with Starbucks in Birmingham and Bristol to get more refugees into employment.
If your business would like to work with us to recruit new staff, please contact holly.fowden@ach.org.uk or visit https://www.ach.org.uk/businesses for more information.
