Thanks for attending our first For Purpose Tuesdays session on 14^th September. Our first learning seminar was from John Evoy, General Manager of Grow Remote.

Structure of For Purpose Tuesdays

The For Purpose grads were placed into breakout rooms. This gave them a chance to understand each other’s role, responsibilities and to access peer-to-peer conversation.

Afterwards, John Evoy described his career journey to our graduates. From working as a farmer, to his career with ‘Grow remote’, John has many years’ experience in the nonprofit sector. He is the founder and previous CEO of, ‘Irish Men’s Shed Association’. This is a place where men can come together to learn skills and make long-lasting friendships together in their community.

The Men’s Shed has achieved significant success across Ireland, receiving governmental and European recognition of their contribution to Ireland. In 2018, the Association received the European Citizen’s Award after being nominated by Irish MEPs.

Hereafter, John discussed his career with ‘Grow Remote’ in a Q&A format with our graduates.

 

What is Grow Remote?

Grow remote is a community group who were initially curious about how remote working could help our communities.

Grow Remote’s aim is to develop the entire ecosystem for remote working. John believes there is unlimited potential for remote working in Ireland, as we can reduce traffic, create more co-working spaces, with less fossil fuels burned from travelling to work. More remote working could result in greater spending in local communities, having a transformative impact on smaller villages and towns in Ireland.

There are 50,000 remote jobs available in Ireland currently, including many startups which are now fully remote. The benefit of continuing to work this way is having the freedom over your own time and personal priorities.

John’s learning seminar was extremely beneficial for our graduates, because it opened the possibility of remaining remote after the pandemic is well and truly over.

 

Our first learning seminar of our For Purpose Tuesdays was extremely successful. We would like to extend a warm thank you to John for sharing his knowledge with our graduates. We look forward to joining our graduates next month at For Purpose Tuesdays!

For more information, contact Rhonda Wynne or visit our website.

For Purpose is delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted for ‘Best Graduate Recruitment Website’ and ‘Best Graduate Training and Development Programme – Business/Management Programmes’ in the gradireland Graduate Recruitment Awards 2021. These nominations are a credit to our For Purpose team, who have worked hard over the past three years to produce exceptional training, development programme and a professional website. 

This is our third year being shortlisted for the gradireland Graduate Recruitment Awards, which is a huge achievement since launching For Purpose in October 2018. Over the years, we have connected excellent graduate talent with fantastic nonprofit organisations in Ireland. Our graduates have continued in their professions, with many progressing from their graduate positions to associates within their organisations.  

A massive thank you to all the organisations and graduates who have worked with us over the past year, during this difficult time for both parties. We have partnered with some brilliant organisations to provide graduate opportunities across the nonprofit sector in fundraising, communications, marketing, housing management and property surveying. We are extremely proud to be representing Ireland’s only nonprofit graduate programme at the award ceremony, alongside other leading graduate recruitment companies.  

Gradireland provides job opportunities for Irish graduates, from a range of leading organisations. This is the fifteenth annual gradireland Graduate Recruitment Award ceremony. Due to COVID-19, the award ceremony will not be taken place physically this year for the second year running. Each awards category were judged, and then shortlisted, by a panel of experts from the industry relevant to each category.  

For more information on the For Purpose Graduate Programme, contact Rhonda Wynne. For further information on each award category, visit gradireland.com.

Introducing Ellen, who joined For Purpose as the Development Assistant for St. Conleth’s College in October 2019. Since her time with For Purpose, Ellen has continued her career with St. Conleth’s College as their Development Coordinator.

 

 

“As the Development Assistant, I worked really closely with the school’s CEO, Development Officer and Financial Controller with all things development and fundraising.”

Ellen discusses how one of her favourite things about the For Purpose Graduate Programme was that, “It really went beyond just finding roles for the graduates in the sector, we were given a lot of support and learning opportunities.”

The transition from college to full time work can be challenging. At For Purpose, we provide support and guidance to our graduates from day one.

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This week, the For Purpose graduates attended their first Learning Seminar of the year, with a presentation from Teach Tearmainn’s Manager, Lorraine Rowan.

The Learning Seminar benefited the graduates as they gained insight into the organisational strategy, mission and purpose of Teach Tearmainn. Furthermore, they participated in a Q&A with Lorraine. Connecting an industry professional with our For Purpose graduates deepened their understanding of non-profit organisations.

Teach Tearmainn provides free and confidential support services, information and emergency accommodation to women and children who are suffering from domestic violence and abuse in the Kildare and West Wicklow area.  Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an upsurge in domestic violence in Ireland. Teach Tearmainn offers a 24/7 helpline, provides women and children with support groups, and much more.

Learning Seminars are one of the unique aspects of the For Purpose Graduate Programme, where we assist in the development of our graduates professional careers.

 

Building capacity in a time of turbulence – the role a graduate programme can play, was the topic of a recent webinar hosted by The Wheel. Participating on the panel were Darren Ryan, CEO with Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, Gavan O’Brien, MD of gradireland, Angela Collins, Head of Careers Services at Waterford Institute of Technology and Adrian McCarthy, Programme Manager of For Purpose.

As Ireland continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic and its wider effects on society, all organisations both commercial and non-profit, are experiencing challenges in talent management. Against the backdrop of the dramatic changes over the past 8 months, this webinar highlighted these current and future challenges for non-profits.

 

Adrian McCarthy from For Purpose illustrated the framework for Talent Management for non-profits and the best practices, for building capacity in an organisation with graduates, during the pandemic. Against the backdrop of 83% of employers reporting Skills Shortages as being a major challenge for their organisation, the importance of strategic planning for talent management cannot be overstated (CIPD’s HR Practices in Ireland Survey 2020). Some organisations are actively managing their talent funnel, with 46% of employers planning to maintain or increase graduate recruitment this year (AHECA Graduate Market Survey 2020).

 

The benefits a graduate programme bring to an organisation were summarised as:

1. The graduate is trained in your organisation’s way of working and culture, “grow your own”
2. Skill Development within the organisation and transfer of those skills
3. Retention is higher when a graduate joins as part of a programme
4. Capacity building of talent in the organisation, nurturing managers of the future.

 

Drawing from the experience of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland’s graduate intakes over the last couple of years, Darren Ryan, noted the quality of graduate applying to roles specifically advertised as graduate programmes is notably higher than those not. Recognising that talented people are what makes a real difference in all organisations, not only non-profits, Darren believes we can’t let the future of the sector up to chance. There is a need to develop, manage and attract top talent enabling the not-for-profit sector to make real impact into the future. Having a graduate programme in place facilitates the required mentoring and coaching of our future leaders of the sector.

 

Gavan O’Brien from gradireland stated graduate recruitment will certainly contract this year as a result of Covid 19. gradireland estimates there will be a 35% contraction based on the same period in 2019 of graduate roles across all sectors (private, public & not-for-profit). Some private sector graduate programmes, particularly in the tourism and hospitality sector have reduced their intake of graduates this year.

When comparing this period of uncertainty to previous economic downturns, the employers who closed their grad programmes experienced a negative impact on their future pipeline of graduates. Gavan said, “Those that closed their programmes, faced a very difficult task of reintroducing their brand to the students they wanted to engage with when they started hiring again.”

Current Graduate programmes are for the most part, remotely on-boarding their new graduates, this move online is something that all organisations are managing for all new staff. Induction in terms of logistics and technology requires a new approach, for this year’s intake of graduates.

 

What can employers do to help their graduates adapt to the changing working environment? Angela Collins recommended that employers recognise their graduates have adapted and developed their skills so they could continue their education during Covid, left college in a period of uncertainty and have entered the world of remote working. Many will need a boost of confidence, look for a sense of belonging and connection, being part of a graduate programme would help these new graduates find their feet.

 

It was noted that other sectors receive state support to develop graduate programmes for example Enterprise Ireland for Irish enterprises, Bord Bia for Agri-food and IDA Ireland for Irish international businesses. There is a case to be made for similar state-funded support for the development of graduate capacity building in the not-for-profit sector.  A discussion on this topic has commenced with The Wheel and a number of organisations within the sector. If you are interested in helping to build this case for support, please contact Adrian McCarthy.

 

For a copy of the presentations or for more details please contact Adrian McCarthy 087 – 910 3872 adrian.mccarthy@forpurpose.ie

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