Habitat for Humanity Ireland provide volunteering opportunities for people from a wide variety of backgrounds through our network of ReStore social enterprise locations, many of whom would be considered “hard to reach”, including those with learning difficulties, mental health challenges, offending histories or long-term unemployment. The challenge we faced was that while volunteers were developing the skills and experience to make them employable in a retail environment, employers tended to undervalue this voluntary work during recruitment processes. This often left volunteers on a pathway to employment disappointed and frustrated.

Becoming an OCN NI centre allowed us to offer the Level 1 Award in Retail Business, which was a highly accessible qualification for our volunteers whatever their previous educational experiences and achievements had been. Having a well-recognised qualification on their CVs gave perspective employers confidence in candidates and enhanced volunteer’s sense of self-worth. Alongside this a Level 1 Award in Employability Skills equipped learners with the right mix of skills to complete job applications to a high standard and improve their performance during interviews.

Since becoming an OCN NI centre in 2022, Habitat for Humanity Ireland have supported more than 50 people into employment, most of whom would be considered hard to reach. For the majority of these individuals, OCN accredited training has been an important part of their journey to employment. We have also used elements of content from these courses to provided individually tailored support to people seeking employment and as part of our wider volunteer training programme to enhance customer experience in our ReStore social enterprises.