Why I love helping people earn a living

Over the two years since, she has overseen significant growth in the number of people the charity has supported.

Below, Debbie tell us why she truly loves helping people find work and start and grow businesses – and how demands for Work Avenue’s services continue to grow.

Can you give a quick summary of what Work Avenue does in the community?

At Work Avenue, we help people from throughout our community obtain long-term sustainable incomes through creating employment and building businesses. We support them through various services, including one-to-one advice and guidance, workshops, training courses, focused support groups, a live jobs board, and our Wohl Enterprise Hub shared workspaces in both London and Manchester. We work tirelessly to be able to help anyone and everyone, at any point of their career/business journey, with a bespoke approach tailored to their needs.

How has Work Avenue, and demand for your services, grown?

Last year, 3,942 people engaged with our services – an increase of 26 per cent on the year before. There were 2,004 one-on-one employment meetings (a 50 per cent increase) and 753 business advice meetings (up 9 per cent). Best of all, 443 jobs were secured by our clients in 2024.

What do you love most about your job?

What I love most is seeing people find their dream jobs, create successful businesses and earn a living to support themselves and their families. A common sentiment we hear is: “I couldn’t have done this without the team at Work Avenue,” and it fills me with pride to lead such an incredible and important charity for our community.

What other feedback do you receive?

Last year more than 95 per cent of our employment clients reported increased confidence and skill levels after using our services and 100 per cent of those receiving one-to-one business advice felt their knowledge had increased. One man, whom we helped find work when he was going through a very tough time, told me: “Your team provided the support and guidance at the very point I needed it the most.” A woman whom we assisted in re-starting her business, said: “The advice from Work Avenue’s business team has been a gamechanger for me. I wouldn’t have got back to this place, at this speed, without it.”

Can you tell us a bit more about your services for job hunters?

We have a wide range of services to help those seeking work, all offered for free. These include one-to-one sessions with our team of experienced and expert advisers, multiple workshops each month and flagship events throughout the year.

We help with everything from career planning and finding vacancies, to creating a perfect CV and filling in application forms, to preparing for interview and boosting confidence.

For those seeking to completely reskill and/or change careers, we also run heavily subsidised high-quality training courses.

Can you also help people find paid work experience?

Yes, one of the special things about Work Avenue is that we help both people looking for jobs and businesses looking for support.We have a number of clients and people training with us who have the skills but either need experience to show potential employers or are looking to build a freelance portfolio. We can pair them with our businesses who need help completing one-off projects in key areas such as graphic design, social media, administration, bookkeeping and website creation. This is another growing side of what we do and in 2024, 170 projects were undertaken with £61,400 earned in freelance income.

What other recent successes or launches have you overseen?

I am thrilled that we have just opened WE Hub @ The Belmont – Manchester's first dedicated community shared workspace, offering both hot desk and permanent desk options for small businesses, freelancers, professionals, entrepreneurs and start-ups to help them develop and grow in a cost-effective way. It complements our Wohl Enterprise Hub in Finchley, which opened in 2016.

Other recent highlights have been the launch of a new in-work support initiative, providing dedicated assistance to people who are working or about to start a new role, and the Empower Her programme that is helping women get back into the workplace after a career break.

Finally, how can people get support?
If you need help with any aspect of finding a job, returning to the workplace, changing career or starting/growing a business, please get in touch.

workavenue.org.uk

Registered charity 1164762