Our Achievement, ways to improve and future plans

What we have achieved

In the last couple of months, Help an Employ Me has significant achievement in different sectors. The first section to be mentionable is the communication between three large companies at Brunei and Bangladesh and their expression of interest towards us. The value proposition of Help and Employ Me which was created skilled employment opportunities for the disadvantaged people has attracted many organisations.

On the other hand, Help and Employ has been receiving significant responses from number of people who are willing to get skilled and employed as they are living in a poor condition. However, Help and Employ has been successful in terms of marketing as a new not for profit organisation. The acceptability from the community and support from the community has lead to the word of mouth marketing or viral marketing which has made a big difference.

The reflection of this success is the presence on social media. Today the organisation has received appreciation from more than 200 viewers in facebook, the new advertisement campaign video has already reached to nearly 100 views in just a couple of days time. Moreover, the changing life story in this blog is a good reflection that how people are happy to change their lives like dream come true. The biggest success lies there when we are able to see that out initiative is really working and people are about to change their lives which was always the core purpose.

Ways to improve

Unlike our achievement there are several key issues we can improve on. First of all the response rate with the clients need to be faster. Today we receive around 10 responses daily who are willing to enrol with us and get employed but at his early stage of the organisation operation we are unable to enrol the number of people. However, the demands from the employers are also growing as more and more companies are looking forward to get into collaboration with us.

In this gap the improvement required is to get more volunteers for trainers and administration. We are getting more demand than what are capabilities are at this moment .Therefore, we are looking forward to develop a community awareness program in search of volunteers who are willing to provide support by sharing their expertise. The administration also need be well collaborated and managed. We need clarify our expenses and income from sponsorship. However, currently the funds available need to be well allocated.

On the other hand we need to be more prominent on the print media and in local community school, colleges, universities as well as in the local council programs where there is more access to the prospective students and volunteers. At the end we would like to focus on organising ourselves and take planned actions as a part to take the organisation further

Future Plans

In the near future we would like to build a complete training centre which will be completely different from other training institution where people needs to pay and our one will be free cost. The centre will be the main head quarters for all kind of operations. Collaboration with large organisation around the world will be the biggest objective. Moreover, we will be having more customized training according to the companies’ requirement. Taking our noble cause further in the later when we are completely established we look forward to open college and university for disadvantaged people.

However, in terms of operation we look forward to cover our operations in Asia and Australia by 2020. However, we look forward to become more global than country based. We wish to train and produce skilled workers for everyone in this world. In this regard collaboration with governments of different countries for employee transfer into their countries will be our biggest future challenge.

Stakeholder's and creating a Win Win Situation

Below is the analysis of our approach towards creating a win win situation between us and our stakeholders.

Government
Who? – Government Business Grants, Embassy of different countries
Our Benefit – We get grants and new clients
How? – Promote government and embassy initiative and organise specialized events.
Their Benefit – Political benefit/exposure, goal achievement.
Approach – Personal link, proposal submission and application

Angel Investors
Who? - Venture Capitalists, Relatives with money
Their benefit – Use their contribution as CSR for their other companies
Our Benefit – We get exposure and funding
Approach – Send and explain what we do and let them know how we do it (overall process)

Media & Social Media
Who?-Television Channels and Newspapers (Channel 7, ABC, The Age, Herald Sun)
What we do for them?-Free advertisement/marketing in our events
What we get?-Featured article on their newspaper or on the news for promotion
Approach - Send proposal invite them to see what we do and free corporate lunch.

Other Not for Profit Organisations
Who? -City to Street, Grameen Bank
How? – Formal correspondence, terms of collaboration, advertising each other,
Our and their benefit- Exposure to wider community and broad scope of publicity, advertisement in each other’s website
Approach – Formal agreement of terms.

Business Partners
Who?- Grameen phone, Biman Bangladesh Airline, Telekom Brunei, Unilever Srilanka.
Their Benefit – Save training cost and employ trained and skilled workers/staff.
How?- Pay registration, Sponsorship of events, fittings, equipments, food etc.
Approach – Pitch for what we do, send proposal, personal collaboration.

Students/Clients
Who? – Our prospective clients for training and employment
How? – Advertisement on TV and print media, Viral marketing, community based campaign, flyers and Department of Welfare and other community offices.
Their benefit – Trained and employed without any cost and change life
Our Benefit – Get more business client collaboration, Sponsorship, grow the organisation

Volunteers/Paid Workers
Who? -Teachers/Trainers/Office admin staff
How?- Certificates, appreciation from the government and community, vouchers, free food, job experience authorization, free t shirts and other equipments
Our benefit – Avofing high scale payments for salary
Their benefits – Spend time for a noble cause with appreciation from the greater community.
Approach – Let them know and create the feel to change the society and solve unemployment problem.

Government, tough on Not for Profit Organisations?? Tax a worry???

Not for Profit organisations/Charities will get a $500 million boost but the federal budget will also close a tax loophole.

The government will provide $53.8 million over four years to establish an independent "one-stop shop" to regulate the not-for-profit sector, News Ltd and Fairfax report(Sky News). ACL Chief of Staff Lyle Shelton states that “Because the overwhelming majority of charities with commercial arms plough profits back in to the charity, it is not known why this new tax is necessary and what other administrative burdens might come with it,”

It will mean that from July 1, the organisations/charities will have to pay income tax on the profits they keep hold of in any newly created businesses that do not go back into their charity work. Tightening tax concessions for charities would cost Australia’s 600,000 not for profit organisations more than $50 million annually. According to the Government Budget 2011-2012.The Government will reform the tax concessions provided to not-for-profit (NFP) organisations to ensure they are targeted only at those activities that directly further a NFP’s philanthropic purpose (Budget 2011-2012)

The Government will also seek advice from the states and territories with the intention of developing and introducing a definition of ‘charity’ that can be adopted by all authorities. The adoption of a consistent definition across all authorities would considerably assist the sectors.


Helpandemlpoyme thinks that introducing this would benefit charities who has good intentions and who work hard to achieve their goals and mission. Introducing this would drive away those not for profit organisations that have become a scam. However, this would cost organisations but weighing pros and cons, in long term enforcing tight tax concessions would keep charities that have good social intentions and eliminate charities that are scams.

For further information:
http://www.skynews.com.au/politics/article.aspx?cId=Politics&id=609792&vId=2383955

Help and Employ Me Advertisement

Human Resource expert gives Advice on Interviews

Today Help and employ me blog is bringing you an exclusive interview with a human resource expert Sandamali Perera who is the Human Resource Director of Unilever Sri Lanka. She had spent many years in the human resource industry and three years she had spent interviewing people every day. We hope this would assist you in preparing for an interview.

Helpandemployme:

Hi Sandamali! You have spent three years interviewing people. What is it like to be in the interview seat?

Sandamali:

Well it was quiet interesting actually because you meet new people every single day and the experience of finding out whether the person is appropriate for the job was quiet amazing. Some people clearly had no idea what they are going to get or hadn’t done their homework which I found quiet unfortunate. You HAVE to do your homework. It’s a must.

Helpandemployme:

What do you mean by homework?

Sandamali:

It means you have to know what the company is and what they are doing. You have to be prepared for various questions about yourself, what are your plans for future and about the company.

Helpandemployme:

Please advice the readers on telephone interviewing.

Sandamali:

Oftentimes, human resources will conduct phone interviews firstly. There are no wrong answers. I see a resume as a proposal—there’s no way to demonstrate everything you’ve done. Phone interview is simply trying to find out more about the applicant as a person and match them up with the corporate culture to see if it’s a good fit. It’s best to be honest in order to determine that.

Helpandemployme:

What do you think about providing examples?

Sandamali:

Of course. Provide examples. You may say you were responsible for in “bringing in $10 million account.” But how so—exactly? I’ll drill down to get as many details as possible. The more I have to pull answers out of you, the more I make a mental note that it’s hard to get this person to communicate. Use concrete examples and say, “I have done this.”

Helpandemployme:

Does talking about teamwork gives you extra points?

Sandamali:

It’s good to be part of a team. I like when people tell me “I was part of a team.” It’s one of the keywords I look for—that you work well with a team.

Helpandemployme:

What do you think about the dress code to the interview?

Sandamali:

Dress code depends on your environment. It’s always a good idea to ask before you come in. If you don’t feel comfortable asking HR, call the receptionist and ask. Generally, a tie and sports jacket is fine for men; a dress shirt and skirt or dress pants works for women.

Helpandemployme:

Is it ok to talk about firings?

Sandamali:

It’s okay to address firings. I’d much rather have someone say, “I was terminated, and here is the reason I was given” and move on. Don’t make up excuses or bash your former employer—I might know that person!

Helpandemployme:

What else should a person do?

Sandamali:

I think it’s nice to receive a thank you—these days an email is just as acceptable as a written note. If I never hear from you, I’ll think you’re not interested.

Moreover, at the conclusion of the interview, it’s perfectly acceptable to ask, “When you do you think you’ll be making a decision?” When you get home, send an email of thanks, saying “I look forward to hearing back from you in the next few weeks.” If you don’t hear anything, send an email after a few weeks along the lines of, “Just touching base and wanted to let you know I’m still interested in this position.”

Helpandemployme:

Thank You Sandamali for your time!

Success through Confidence, Determination and Courage

Rani was a 35 year old mother of five children who was living in a rundown house when we found her. Her husband recently died of severe disease called cholera. Cholera is a disease that is transmitted by ingesting contaminated water or food. She had tried many ways to save her husband but poverty hit her like never before. She had done everything from polishing shoes to begging to feed her children as well to pay for her husband’s disease but unfortunately things were not going in her way.  Her husband was the only income support she and her children had for survival. After her husband’s death she didn’t have anyone to ask support from.  Her life was crashing down. Determined to get her life back together she went down to government unemployment office. That where we found her.

Mr. Sachithra Sarachchandra was a follower of our blog and he works at the Government Unemployment office. That’s where he met Rani. He listened to her story and he immediately contacted us.  That was the beginning of a new life to Rani.

After hearing her story and a thorough interview, one of the talents that stood out from her was her ability to sew.  We focused on that and made arrangements to enhance her sewing skills. In near future we will be able to get her employed in a Garment factory as they demand cheap labour. She will be able to support her kids really soon.