In February we welcomed Julian to our team. He is seconded from a programme at the Rivers Hotel, supporting people with autism to gain the skills to find employment.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m Julian, the trainee admin at Talbot Jones Risk Solutions and also a trainee at the Rivers Hotel. I’m 19 years old and I have Asperger’s Syndrome.

How does your Asperger’s impact you?

Overall, it impacts my ability to learn fast, in some circumstances. Sometimes I lose focus. It goes in one ear and out the other, but when the person says it again, I’ll totally get it. I daydream a lot. Sleeping well and being energised helps me focus. If you call my name, and get my attention, that helps me focus again. I can learn fast in certain environments and in certain areas.

We have found you to be a really fast learner in everything we’ve asked you to you!

Thank you! It’s an IT dependent role and I’ve found it really easy to catch on.

How did you come to be part of Talbot Jones Risk Solutions?

Sarah at St Camillus is the Transition Manager who looks to find you a job at the hotel or elsewhere. She spoke to Talbot Jones Risk Solutions and then I had an interview with some other trainees. You picked me!

Yes! We loved your fantastic attitude and sense of initiative.

Tell me more about St Camillus.

They are a company  that train people with learning disabilities and/or autism and offer three different programmes: traineeships, supported internships and day opportunities. One of the training centres is the Rivers Hotel, where I do most of my training. The trainees train in 4 different areas: the kitchen, housekeeping, bar/diner and reception. It helps train people who otherwise might struggle to get a job, but it takes them a longer time to pick up skills that other people might find easy. They use one to one and hand over hand methods to give lots of opportunities and practice to help embed those skills and train up workers.

The traineeship lasts 6 months. I’m in my final month. St Camillus work hard to find you a job to walk into when you finish. I love working in the bar but I love the admin side too, as I feel it’s a very important job. Without having admin support, it would take time from other people’s jobs that could be better spent. It’s more efficient to have admin support and I like helping to make sure that the right information is getting to the right people. St Camillus organised for me to come to Talbot Jones Risk Solutions to get more hands on experience. It’s much closer to what I want to do, than the opportunities at the Rivers Hotel reception.

How did you get involved with St Camillus?

I’d just finished my second year at college and I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I didn’t feel ready to go to uni- if I ever will! My best friend Morgan recommend that I try a traineeship there. I emailed them and had a short interview, and they took me on.

I enjoyed college and it was very chilled, but I don’t feel like I learn best in that kind of environment. Sometimes it ramps up in intensity in terms of workload and I found that hard to manage sometimes. I did pass; it went well, but I feel better suited to more practical opportunities where I can also gain more life skills. I think that’s where I shine.

What have you most enjoyed and benefitted from this experience?

I’m learning a lot of new things that I didn’t know before. I didn’t even know that brokerages were a ‘thing’ before! So, I’ve learned a lot about insurance. I learned more about IT and different software packages, and it has been great getting used to a real office environment.

What are your hopes for the future?

I hope to be good at something and just to get better and better at it! I’d love to have a salaried job, maybe an apprenticeship. I want something I can put my all into.

I do enjoy hospitality, I’m very interested in IT and computer hardware. I have a decent self-taught understanding of how computers work and how they’re put together.

I think I’d work best in a team environment, where I work with other people. I like teamwork. It’s fun!  Yesterday, at the hotel, we cleared out the cleaning cupboard. It hadn’t been done for a very long time. I made sure certain things were in certain sections, with boxes at the bottom, unboxed things above it on the shelf…it looks really nice! I was really proud of that! It was like my life achievement (laughs)! Everything is organised and more efficient now. I did the sorting and organising; that was my role. The rest of the team were bringing the stuff to me, to sort out, to be more efficient.

Why should a business consider taking on a trainee with autism?

I feel like if you get them invested, they’ll be VERY invested and they’ll give it their all. You’ll get a very talented, driven and loyal employee by the end of it.

 

Many thanks to St Camillus Group for the fantastic opportunity to benefit from Julian’s excellent attitude and support. He has completed all tasks quickly efficiently accurately and with a positive attitude. It is a real pleasure to have him around. And, most of all, THANK YOU JULIAN!

If you’re interested in exploring opportunities to take on a trainee or employee from the St Camillus programme, do give them a ring on 0191 4841237.

Talbot Jones Risk Solutions is a community focussed commercial insurance brokerage based in Gateshead. Do get in touch if you’d value a free insurance review, quotation or advice- we’d be delighted to help!