The Challenge

In response to this situation, we asked ourselves ‘what if there was a way to provide a world-class training programme that addressed these issues,  was free of charge, and enabled employers to recruit better?’.

Our answer is the Spring Project - a radical rethinking of what employability is and how it gets developed within a sustainable model that benefits graduates, employers and the wider community.

In essence the model consists of a cycle of training, practice and review. Graduates receive  training, which they get into practice by working on meaningful projects in a feedback rich environment where they really get to reflect on who they are, how they are bringing themselves to the work they are doing and the value they are creating.

Through this, graduates take responsibility for developing their own employability, generating their own opportunities, and in turn have far more to contribute to a prospective employer. Organisations in turn, have the opportunity to hire graduates who have shown their worth in real situations.

Bringing the Spring to life

Our founding value is generosity, and so that is how where we ourselves started; we have so far gifted a total of £250,000 worth of training to over 1,000 unemployed graduates to seed the project. Now we are offering more employers the opportunity to join us in making the Spring Project much more widely available.

On the 12th April we are opening our doors to employers to find out more about this new model of employability and unique development approach. This is a special event that kicks off a series of talks with an Olympic Gold medallist who will be running a session with graduates in the afternoon. This will be followed by a short presentation on the Spring Project.

If you are interested in sponsoring the work we do, or know someone who is, please come along on the 12th so that you can experience the Spring Project first-hand and see how it  can help you meet your employability, recruitment or CSR objectives.

About the founders:

The Spring Project was set up by Darius Norell, Andrew Armes and Denis Burke, who all share an interest in maximising human potential.  Andrew spent twelve years working for large blue chip organisations in recruitment, talent management and leadership development.  He has been voted twice in the top 100 most influential HR professionals by HR Magazine and is a triple recruitment advertising and design winner for employment branding.  Darius founded Real World in 1999 to help prepare students for life after university. He is a regular speaker to businesses, business schools and education on entrepreneurship, creativity and learning and development.  Denis is an Aikido Sensei and for 20 years has worked with individuals and organisations to develop purposeful practice and their ability to use energy channels to help unlock creativity.