upReach is a social mobility charity that was set up in 2012 to support undergraduates from disadvantaged backgrounds throughout their time at university to help them secure career opportunities with leading graduate employers – many of whom are clients of Templar.
The charity works in close partnership with more than 20 top employers and universities to achieve this. Since working with a pilot cohort of 39 students, upReach has expanded its support to work with over 750 students in 2017-18, with plans to support 2,000 students by 2020.
“The delivery of face-to-face skills workshops is a central pillar of upReach’s programme of support. These sessions help students develop the elusive ‘soft’ employability skills that are crucial to securing graduate employment”, says Laura Harrisson, Programme Manager at upReach.
So far in 2017-18, workshops have been attended almost 700 times, most recently on university campuses at Exeter, King’s College, Lancaster, Liverpool, Southampton and Warwick. Sessions have covered a wide range of themes, from Teamwork to Goal Setting and Emotional Intelligence.
In advance of these campus visits, the upReach team organised a session with Templar to help them sharpen their presentation style and facilitation skills.
“The training we had with Gareth and Johnny from Templar has had a clear impact on both the confidence of session leaders and the quality of their delivery to students on campus,” says Laura.
“This has helped to ensure that sessions are of real benefit to students, as reflected in the incredibly positive feedback we have received from attendees this year.”
Earlier in the year, Templar also helped the upReach team develop their own presence and impact over the course of two separate sessions.
“The learnings from our sessions with Gareth and Johnny have helped us to improve so many aspects of our work,” says Eugene Malthouse, Employer Partnerships Manager at the charity. “When you add up all the positive changes – the way we structure internal team meetings, give feedback to each other and present to external stakeholders – it’s made a significant difference overall.”
“The invariably infectious enthusiasm with which Gareth and Johnny deliver their sessions makes for a highly enjoyable learning experience,” Eugene adds.
As well as working with the upReach team, Templar have also conducted training sessions with more than 50 upReach students in 2017-18 and will build on this work further in 2018-19.
“upReach’s work is vital to bringing fresh hungry talent to the likes of our clients. Talent that were it not for upReach’s work, would not have the opportunity to access these careers. It’s been a privilege working with such an energetic and motivated team and helping them increase the impact of their work,” Gareth said.