TNG, a national welfare to work organisation helping deliver people from benefits into work, with six offices in Kent, has helped over 1,600 people who walk through its doors to find a job in the three years.

TNG helps individuals who are struggling to find work, first by identifying their barriers to work. Barriers to employment vary depending on the individual, but can include a lack of qualifications, a lack of work experience, a lack of confidence after being away from the jobs market for a period of time, health-related issues, childcare issues, a criminal record, as well as many other barriers. Often, a person will have a combination of barriers, and TNG works with individuals to overcome them.

A common barrier is a lack of confidence, and TNG in Gravesend turned to Dragons' Den for inspiration to help boost the confidence and team building skills of local jobseekers, by holding a training event based on the BBC programme using fake 'Dragons'.

During the Dragon’s Den day, jobseekers were put into teams, and asked to come up with a new and innovative idea. The teams then had to work together to prepare a presentation before going in front of the ‘Dragons’ to pitch for investment - TNG’s Personal Job Advisers in custom-made 'Dragons' masks featuring the faces of business experts Theo Paphitis, Deborah Meaden, James Caan, Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones using special ‘Dragon’ dollars, with each Dragon’s face adorning the special notes.

Heidi Griffin, Regional Manager in Kent at TNG, said, "At TNG, we don’t just help people work on their CV, and give them a pile of job adverts. That doesn’t help people. We look at addressing the real issues around their unemployment, and almost everyone we see has a confidence issue.

"When someone becomes unemployed, their confidence often takes a real knock. Unsuccessful applications, especially in challenging economic times such as these, can be demoralising, and can lead to a real lack of motivation. We wanted to introduce an activity which helped restore confidence and motivation, and had real practical workplace application, such as improving team building and presentation skills. Having a ‘Dragons’ Den’ day seemed perfect."

By the end of the day, the fake Dragons had invested 15,000 ‘Dragon Dollars’ , and the team which received the most investment won a real-life High Street voucher worth £10.00. There were also winners for individual presentation, and funniest presentation.

Heidi Griffin, continued, "The day not only taught people the value of focusing on the task in hand and staying motivated, but it helped them to think creatively, and the importance of presentation – after all, in an interview, you are essentially ‘pitching’ yourself. As an added bonus to the day, it was really good fun and everyone enjoyed themselves."