Creating inclusive employment opportunities: How Maisie found her place in the workforce

Maisie’s assigned ECL Inclusive Employment Consultant, Nicole Keates, worked with her to find and apply for appropriate job vacancies. She followed up on job applications and organised site tours, which she felt would give Maisie the opportunity to demonstrate her potential without putting her through the stresses of a formal job interview.

Having spotted an admin job vacancy advertised by Hylands School in Chelmsford, Nicole and Maisie emailed them. They were excited to receive a reply from Business Manager Joanne (Jo) Hyland-Fink inviting Maisie to a site tour and an informal chat.

During the visit, Maisie’s passion and enthusiasm shone through. While Jo felt she didn’t quite have enough experience compared to other candidates for the advertised role, she was determined to create a position that would utilise Maisie’s skills and appealing personal qualities, while giving her the opportunity to gain valuable experience. The Headteacher fully endorsed the idea and Jo created Maisie a four-month paid contract as an admin assistant, working two days a week until the end of the academic year.

Maisie was delighted to hear the news and said, “The three words that I would describe when I got the job offer are excited, confident, and motivated!”

ECL job coach Katie Connolly helped Maisie to settle into her new role at Hylands, accompanying her to work every day for the first four weeks to ensure she was comfortable with the journey, completing the work satisfactorily, and encouraging her to ask questions. Bolstered by the support of her job coach and the welcoming reception from the Hylands office team, Maisie was soon confident enough to work independently, and Katie reduced her support to fortnightly check-ins to ensure things were still going smoothly. Maisie explained: “Having my job coach was important to boosting my confidence, now I can do it without batting an eyelid and if I have any questions, I go to my colleagues or manager.”

Jo cannot speak highly enough of Maisie, she commented: “Nothing is too much trouble for Maisie, she has demonstrated how adaptable she is; working with all the different admin teams, carrying out a broad range of tasks including filing, providing reception cover, carrying out DBS checks in the Safeguarding department, and creating a training matrix in Microsoft Excel to track staff training. She does everything with a smile on her face, and everyone she works with thinks she’s fantastic.”

Jo also feels that Maisie has had a positive effect on the rest of the admin team: “I think they have grown as a team with Maisie there. I don't think they have had to make many adjustments for her. They are the team that they've always been, but they’ve learned a lot about themselves by working with Maisie, who may need that little bit of extra support, a bit more structure, and strategies and tools to achieve things. They laugh, they joke, and Maisie just gets involved in the conversation. I think it's really done them good.”

Receptionist Deven Hill-Burton, who has become close to Maisie, wholeheartedly agrees: “Maisie is very much one of a kind; she looks at life differently, and I think that is fabulous. She’s fun, she’s bubbly, she's just wonderful! We have learnt a lot from Maisie as well as her learning from us. For example, we have discovered that it is better for us to rephrase the things that we say into shorter sentences so it’s easier for Maisie to understand. She picks up things so very quickly, she just takes on everything and just gets on with it. Everyone should have a Maisie in their life!”

The outstanding support that Maisie has received from the ECL Inclusive Employment team and her colleagues at Hylands has grown her confidence and self-esteem exponentially. Maisie commented, “I can now handle myself better, and my communication has improved; I’m no longer afraid to ask questions. My confidence has gone from six to nine out of ten.” 

Jo concurs: “Maisie was quite quiet when she first came in, but she has really come out of her shell. She talks to everybody. She is quite happy answering the gate intercom to allow people to come in, talking to parents, and seeing people at reception. 

Both Jo and Maisie speak glowingly of the ECL Inclusive Employment programme. Jo commented, “it’s been such a pleasure working with ECL because they have really rooted for Maisie. Had it not been for their emails highlighting Maisie’s interest right at the beginning, this would never have happened. Not only has Maisie gained from this experience, but as an employer, we have gained too, and it's important to give these young adults the opportunity to learn and gain skills for their future. I would implore other Essex schools and organisations not to ignore the approaches from ECL. Don’t just say, ‘Well, we will let somebody else do that.’ You need to take it on board yourself because this is an opportunity that benefits everyone.”

Maisie added, “I enjoy my job very much; everyone is so nice to me. When I get up in the morning, I feel really happy and excited knowing that I've got a really, really good and supportive team helping me at work. It boosts my confidence even more every day."

Since conducting the interviews for this case study, there has been a fantastic development. Maisie has successfully interviewed and been offered the role of HR Administration Junior, which extends her contract with Hylands by another four months, starting in September 2024.

Maisie is absolutely thrilled, and this demonstrates that Hylands is not just doing an equal opportunities tick box exercise; they are getting real value from Maisie as one of their employees.