Contacting the Employers

Most of FD tutors were reluctant to give me the employers' addresses. i gathered that the main reason behind this was political as they fear for the security of their jobs. However some of the tutors were outspoken and more supportive and I received some contacts names from them. Others suggested that their students would pass the Employer questionnaire to their employers/line managers and return them back to me.

From the names I have received I have started contacting the companies trying to arrange appointments with them. It has not been as simple as expected. I have had different responses from several employers, one said that the person responsible is away on a business trip and will let me know when he is back, a few said that they were too busy at the moment to arrange any meetings and asked me to post to them our questionnaire which they will complete and return to me.

I managed to arrange an interview with Aspire Housing company, I will publish the full interview at a later date

Referring to the responses i have received as mentioned above, i decided to post my questionnaire to all of the named employers from the tutors. I therefore sent 9 letters ( enclosing pre-paid envelops) i received only one reply which was from the NHS

As I did not receive the response I was looking for, I started to disseminate the questionnaire through the employees (learners) so that they will in turn pass them on to their employers.