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This name better reflects our wider inclusive employment activity, comprised of recruitment, diversity support and bespoke social impact projects.
Since 2009, our team has been supporting businesses to grow and talented, diverse jobseekers to find professional purpose. We’ve worked with 1100+ businesses cross-sector and supported 1700+ people from all walks of life into meaningful employment.
Businesses come to us to access diverse jobseekers from all backgrounds into short-term as well as permanent roles. We help people make changes to their lives, help them break bad employment cycles and get into work that’s right for them.
In 2009 the economy was in a poor state and the creation of new jobs was exceptionally low. More and more graduates were leaving university and joining those already looking for work, desperate to step into the great jobs they had been told would fall at their newly-graduated feet.
Graduates were faced with an uphill battle, exacerbated by their lack of experience in the world of work. Too many were finding the only way to get a foot in the door was through unpaid internships and voluntary work.
Driven to put an end to this culture of unpaid internships, Joy Lewis began her dream of supporting unemployed and underemployed graduates into employment. The support was overwhelming.
Knowing that not only did graduates have a lot to offer, but that our economic future relied on the youth of today, Joy (unpaid herself at this stage) placed six graduates with six businesses. She started as AAI continues today, making sure all job opportunities are transparently advertised and that jobseekers are carefully shortlisted, supported and tracked afterwards.
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New Opportunity in Glasgow //
Technical Consultant with New Verve Consulting
As a Technical Consultant, you will be responsible for the design, implementation, and customisation of #AtlassianCloud solutions for their clients.
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New Opportunity in Edinburgh //
Marketing & Communications #Internship with EVOC.
This is an excellent opportunity to gain valuable experience with an established community support body.
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Joy joined the Centre for Scottish Public Policy in January 2009 and spun out AAI EmployAbility (then, Adopt an Intern) a year later. The company has since gone from strength to strength, placing over 1700 graduates and returners into valuable paid work across the UK.
She served for 20 years in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and has lived and worked in Brazil, Argentina and Germany. Joy also worked for many years in fashion retail where she recruited, trained and mentored sales managers, culminating in a successful business in Germany.
After addressing their first employment injustice of unpaid graduate internships, Joy and team have widened their scope of inclusive employment to include diversity and inclusion services to help more businesses to grow and more talented people to access opportunity.
Renée started working with AAI in February 2020 to support and advise on all aspects of organisational development, operational processes, and general business management. With a diversity of business experience, from running her own start-up business and an independent consultancy based in her native America, to a UK posting with an international corporation, Renée is happy to use her proven strategic, operational, change, and project management skills to further AAI’s vision of increasing social mobility, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace.
Renée is a professionally trained public speaker who also provides adhoc training and mentoring in public speaking and presentation skills. An avid scuba diver, Renée does volunteer work relating to marine conservation and uses her underwater adventures as the basis for the children’s stories she writes in her spare time.
Mandy joined the team in 2018 after participating in AAI’s Diversity Works project which inspired her to be part of a purpose-led team with equality of opportunity at its heart. Mandy ensures the smooth running of AAI’s operations and is the team’s go-to person for technical support. She also uses her keen eye for design to create content for AAI’s digital platforms.
Mandy has a Master’s in Product Design Engineering which influenced her passion to use technology to improve AAI’s processes, bridging the gap between IT and the business.
Mandy is passionate about broader representation for minority ethnic people and underrepresented groups which drives her work behind the scenes for AAI EmployAbility.
Nick joined the team in 2017 after meeting Joy Lewis at an event in London run by his AAI internship host employer, the Scottish Business Network.
Before AAI, Nick spent 10 years in the specialty coffee business and is a former sponsored skateboarder. He brings these rather dubious transferable skills to AAI along with an undergraduate degree in History and an MSc in Marketing.
Nick’s focus is to continue to build and represent AAI to the best of his abilities, highlighting the company’s values and reputation to both graduates and employers. His passion for CSR, social impact and supporting purpose-led businesses makes him a visible and vocal member of the Scottish entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Ross joined the team in April 2018 as a Disability Employment Researcher looking at the issues facing disabled graduates breaking into the job market. He now run’s AAI’s Disabling Barriers project and workshops.
He is passionate about getting more disabled and neurodiverse people into work by breaking down barriers in society, as he is neurodiverse himself having ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
Ross, carried out a year-long study with employers and disabled graduates, looking at the barriers in recruitment. These findings are used in the diversity and inclusion training Ross delivers to businesses. Ross was also trained as a public diplomat in Poland and believes in the importance of facilitating good dialogue between policymakers, businesses and disabled people.
As such, he sits on the Scottish Government’s policy steering group for increasing disability employment. Ross is also on the Scottish Funding Council’s group for improving disabled student outcomes. Most recently he completed a certificate in counselling and in his spare time is retraining as a behavioural psychotherapist to better support the mental health of disabled people.
Jane joined AAI in 2013 and from the start, has proved a source of valuable ideas support for all members of our team, as well as consistently delivering a high standard of work in her role as a candidate facing recruitment specialist. Coming from a varied background to include recruitment she contributes regularly to sessions aimed at improving processes, procedures and service offerings.
In March 2021 Jane joined AAI in a more permanent capacity as Talent Engagement Lead, consulting employers from businesses of all sizes on their recruitment needs and engaging with motivated jobseekers who apply for opportunities through AAI.
Jane also plays a vital role in AAI’s social impact projects, most notably in 2021’s Back to Work: Women Returners initiative, supporting women from minority ethnic backgrounds to build confidence and gain employment after a career break.
Viana joined AAI in July 2019. Her journey with AAI started at the end of 2017 when she took part in the ‘Back to Work’ project supporting BAME Women Returners through which she was offered a 12-week placement with Drink Baotic.
This opportunity through AAI led Viana to gain part-time employment as an Employability Coordinator supporting BME refugees and migrants in Glasgow to access training or paid placement.
After managing and modifying this program, Viana started her own initiative, pRESPECT, that focuses on building confidence and empowering individuals to have better access to employment opportunities and upskilling.
Viana has a BSc (HON) Web Design and Development from Edinburgh Napier University and Columnist at Holyrood Magazine.
Viana is passionate about empowering people to become self-sustaining in their careers and supporting them to develop better awareness and adaptability towards the changing technology and digital skills required in the ever-evolving workplace.
Deniss is an ex-pat from Latvia. From a young age, he has been travelling abroad for studies and work. He completed three student exchanges in Germany, Finland and UK before choosing to settle down in Edinburgh where he completed a BA in Business Management and an MSc in International Business and Leadership.
Before coming to Scotland, he worked on multiple projects in business development and digital marketing, predominantly in the Third Sector. Deniss is passionate about making a social impact through employment and is a huge advocate of work placements and opportunities for people from all walks of life.
He is also a passionate sportsperson who enjoys competing around Europe and UK in paintball. Before lockdown, he was playing for teams from Ireland, Italy and the UK.
Deniss is a digitally-savvy professional with a strong understanding of B2B marketing principles and practices and is working as a digital marketing coordinator, guiding the brand identity, managing customer touchpoints and marketing activities at AAI.
