ISS, a multinational facility services company, is committed to supporting the reduction of local unemployment by creating access to job opportunities for local residents across its contracts. As one of ELBA’s corporate partners and an active member of its Skills and Employment Board, ISS approached ELBA about assisting with the recruitment of specialist roles as Revenue Protection Officer on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR).

After an initial scoping meeting to better understand the roles and type of candidate the company needed to ensure the success of its DLR contract, ELBA’s Project Manager recommended that we host an Open Day to promote the roles and attract suitable candidates. When recruiting to roles like these, CVs can often act as a barrier for many candidates but an Open Day provides an opportunity for individuals to fully sell their transferable skills. The event was promoted to more than 50 community organisations including local job centres and local authorities and attracted around 20 candidates. At the open day, Gerald Maxwell Achilihu, ISS DLR Revenue and Security Contract Manager, gave a presentation about ISS and more specifically the DLR contracts. Candidates were then asked to complete various exercises to demonstrate their skills and attributes before being offered a one-to-one interview with Gerald. Candidates also had the opportunity to engage in a Q&A session and find out more about ISS, its ethos and its employees.

Following the event and subsequent interviews, six candidates were offered jobs pending the successful completion of intensive revenue protection training and Support to BTP policing Initiatives. Four candidates were successful graduates of this training, with three of the candidates taking up job offers.

Azizul Hoque, one of these three candidates, said: