After a couple of years away, the Leeds Hidden Talents Employment Fair is back. It will be online this year, running a series of seminars over the last two weeks of March. They aim to showcase what employment support is out there for autistic adults in the Leeds area.
The seminars are delivered by services including Jobcentre Plus and the DWP, Specialist Autism Services, Lighthouse Futures Trust, Leeds City College and Being Employed Leeds. All seminars are free to attend and will be hosted on Zoom.
Seminar topics
Specialist Autism Services are running three seminars on self-employment and two on their First Steps Towards Employment course. The self-employment webinars will look at the differences between conventional and self-employment, why working for yourself can be a positive, self-employment and benefits and registering for tax.
The two First Steps webinars will cover how to gain experience and skills, volunteering, courses and education, apprenticeships and additional support.
Jobcentre Plus are running sessions on Access to Work and support from the Jobcentre. The Access to Work webinar will look at what it is, who is eligible for it, how to apply and the Disability Confident employer scheme. The other sessions on support from the Jobcentre look at what to expect when visiting a Jobcentre, the staff working there, specialist roles, autism accreditation and job retention.
Lighthouse Futures Trust will hold webinars on their Healthier Working Futures project and other services they offer. Leeds City College have two sessions on their offering to autistic students. Leeds Learning Hub will be on hand for some sessions to talk about adult education opportunities.
Meanwhile, Being Employed Leeds will be talking about their website and how it can help people to find work in Leeds.
Timetable
Each seminar will be held at least once in the afternoon and once in the evening. To see when each seminar is taking place, please click on the links below to see a timetable in PDF or JPG format.
The first seminar takes place on Monday 21st March at 1pm. The final one is on Thursday 31st March at 6pm. If you would like to join in any of the webinars, please sign up to the Leeds Hidden Talents mailing list below:
To attend any webinars, you must be an autistic adult in the Leeds area. If you have any questions about joining, please email us at [email protected].
