Tilisha and Vishal shared a volunteering experience for a cause that is dear to the hearts of these work friends.

Tilisha: “Outside of work I run the JFJ Foundation. Six years ago, I lost my brother to knife crime in a terrible case of mistaken identity. So, I really want to make a change in society, and I’ve been campaigning and working with other campaigners about knife crime. With my friend who is a Primary School teacher, the Foundation has developed an education programme that runs in UK schools, bringing educational and confidence building benefit to those kids. We have had really good feedback from the schools we work with. Now we are working with the police and with secondary schools to educate kids about trauma and the impact of the decisions they make.

In my work with the Foundation, I use my HR background all the time and I realised I could utilise my colleague’s skills as well. Vish has global recruitment knowledge, and he has taught me a lot. I thought I could use Vish’s skills during school holidays to help the kids with their CV development. They really want to get on a good path and get employment.

When I asked Vish, he said yes straight away! There was no hesitation. With his professional experience, it didn’t take him long to put a plan together. When he ran the session, the kids were so happy to have a global company like IDP helping them. The overarching feedback was amazing and came with a resounding ‘let’s do it again’.”

Vishal: “Tilisha is my work best mate, so when she asked me to volunteer, of course I said yes! We all have passions outside of work and this was a great opportunity to combine my skills and IDP’s purpose of providing education to make people’s lives better. For me to spend a few hours with these kids, on a topic I know well, was not a big thing. But I learnt that I was unprepared for the audience. I need to tailor for their needs, and I need to learn what they need. It will be a great learning opportunity for me to get more proactive on the socials and to learn more about Chat GPT so that I can help them use those platforms.

The volunteering day was a fantastic day, and it really warmed my heart. My content, however, wasn’t completely fit for purpose, and the kids let me know! They loved the experience, but feedback was it was a bit boring! That’s ok, I improvised on the spot, and I know that I need to make changes for next time to better align to this age group audience. I would love this experience to be the start of an ongoing relationship with the Foundation”.

Tilisha and Vishal want everyone to know about the Volunteer Leave Policy and the impact people can make by combining talent + profession + performance. They both value the support they were given from their manager and the “go ahead and do it attitude from her".

Our heartfelt thoughts to you and your family, Tilisha, and thank you Vishal and Tilisha for sharing this warming volunteering story.

#ItsUpToMe to use my expertise to benefit the community