Partnership with The Estée Lauder Companies

Individuals accessing the Refugee Employability Programme (REP) in London have recently benefitted from an exciting new partnership with The Estée Lauder Companies, with four Service Users having already been hired!

We connected with Estée Lauder though our relationship with Tent Partnership for Refugees, an organisation made up of over 400 major companies committed to hiring and integrating refugees into their workforces. We have since collaborated with Estée Lauder to create an inclusive pathway for refugees to access vacancies within their organisation.

Prior to opening vacancies to our Service Users, we worked closely with the Estée Lauder team to understand and identify potential barriers or hurdles in the application and recruitment process, using these insights to guide our strategy.

Following this, Estée Lauder developed a dedicated link for REP candidates to apply, simplifying the process and enabling them to track applications from our service accurately. Alongside this, we conducted group application sessions in our REP offices, offering practical guidance on both applications and group interviews.

Last month, Estée Lauder hosted an assessment day, for our Service Users to learn about the organisation, showcase their personalities, and demonstrate their communication skills (even with limited English proficiency). Store managers present on the day would eventually become the candidates’ supervisors. This personalised interaction helped to ease candidates’ anxiety about joining a new work environment.

We’re delighted to share that following the assessment, four out of six Service Users who attended were offered and accepted offers of employment, one of which has since become the highest performing staff member in her store!

Successful candidates were paired with mentors within their stores who provided them with guidance during their training. Estée Lauder also offered complimentary hair and make-up services to unsuccessful candidates to bolster their confidence for other upcoming interviews.

Following the success of this initiative, we are pleased to share that we will be partnering with Estée Lauder again in the summer to support even more of our Service Users into sustainable employment.