Episode 211: Hiring people with Down syndrome – with Joshua Hoskins

The episode transcript is below.

Carolyn Kiel: Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds, the podcast that goes beyond the six second first impression to share the extraordinary stories of neurodivergent people. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel.

Carolyn Kiel: On today’s episode, I’m speaking with Josh Hoskins. Josh is 25 years old and lives in Tamworth, England with his parents. He loves his family and friends and his hobbies are horse riding, boxing, musicals, supporting Newcastle United Football team, going out on trips and going on holiday.

Josh has two jobs. He loves them both and has great buddies at each place. Josh’s Mum, Debbie, helps him create posts on LinkedIn every week, because Josh wants to help other people with Down syndrome to get a job if they want to. He uses LinkedIn to prove what he can do.

Josh and Debbie, welcome to the podcast.

Debbie Hoskins: Hi, thank you.

Josh Hoskins: Hello.

Carolyn Kiel: I’m so excited to learn more about your life and your work and all of that. So to start out, Josh, how did you find your job at Marshall Fleet Services?

Josh Hoskins: I love my buddies. Phil, Vern, Rob, Ryan.

Kind. Mark, kind to me.

Georgia, kind to me.

Debbie Hoskins: So Joshua loves everybody at Marshall Fleet Services, is what he was telling you there. He applied to an organisation called WorkFit, which are part of the Down’s Syndrome Association in the UK. And what they do is, you apply to them and then they skills match you to an employer in your area.

So Joshua and I applied for him in February, 2022. It does take a little while for them to find the right job role for the person. But they did that only a couple of months later in April of 2022. And that was when Joshua first met the lovely team at Marshalls Fleet Services, isn’t it?

Josh Hoskins: Yes Mum.

Debbie Hoskins: Yeah. So they, they just are, the most amazing team and they just have been a brilliant help to him right from the beginning.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s so great that the team has been so helpful and that you have a lot of buddies and friends there. And I’d love to know, how did the Down’s Syndrome Association help you prepare for your job?

Debbie Hoskins: Do you want to tell them about Molly?

Josh Hoskins: Molly. Oh, Molly kind to me.

Debbie Hoskins: So, Molly is Joshua’s WorkFit officer. So Molly talked to Joshua about what he wanted from a job, about the sorts of things that he was good at, about the sorts of things that he would enjoy. She talked to him about anything that would worry him about starting work. And then she went to Marshalls and put lots of training in place so that when Joshua started there, she made sure that they gave him all the help and support that he could possibly need. She is an absolute angel, isn’t she?

Josh Hoskins: Yes, Mum.

Debbie Hoskins: And we love Molly, don’t we?

Josh Hoskins: Yes, Mum.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s great that you have someone like Molly to help you get ready and give you the support that you need to do your job.

So yeah, I mean, tell me about your job. Like what kinds of things do you do at Marshall Fleet Services?

Josh Hoskins: Pack, packing stacking boxes.

Debbie Hoskins: Yeah, so you pack and stack boxes, don’t you? What else do you do?

Josh Hoskins: A box not going. Yeah, a box not going. A box not going.

Debbie Hoskins: What do you mean not going?

Josh Hoskins: Boxes.

Debbie Hoskins: Oh, when the boxes are not going out?

Josh Hoskins: Yes.

Debbie Hoskins: Yeah, okay. You help with the stock take?

Josh Hoskins: Stock take.

Debbie Hoskins: You have to make sure everywhere’s clean and tidy, don’t you?

Josh Hoskins: I do.

Debbie Hoskins: Yeah.

Carolyn Kiel: So yeah, you’ve got a lot of things that you’re doing there. That’s really cool.

You talked about a lot of the coworkers and buddies and friends that you have there. What’s it like working with your coworkers there?

Debbie Hoskins: What do you think about working with your team at Marshalls, Josh?

Josh Hoskins: I work, me and Phil.

Debbie Hoskins: Yeah, you work with Phil. Phil’s your busiest buddy, isn’t he? Yeah. Who else?

Josh Hoskins: My buddy, Vern.

Debbie Hoskins: Yeah, and Vern.

Josh Hoskins: And Vern.

Debbie Hoskins: And who else do you have?

Josh Hoskins: Chris.

Debbie Hoskins: Chris helps you, yeah?

Josh Hoskins: Ryan.

Debbie Hoskins: Ryan’s your boss, isn’t he?

Josh Hoskins: And Rob.

Debbie Hoskins: And Rob. You work with Rob as well. He’s another boss, isn’t he?

Josh Hoskins: And Mark.

Debbie Hoskins: And Mark is the big, big boss and he’s probably your favorite, isn’t he?

Josh Hoskins: Oh, yes.

Debbie Hoskins: Yeah? But they’re great, aren’t you? Because you work as part of the team, don’t you?

Josh Hoskins: Yes.

Debbie Hoskins: On Monday mornings, they talk about, well, football here in the UK, but soccer there. And Joshua teases everybody if their team did badly, and he kind of celebrates if they did well. So he’s, he’s a real part of the team, aren’t you?

Josh Hoskins: Yes Mum.

Debbie Hoskins: And so much so that, what did you do at Christmas?

Josh Hoskins: Oh, Christmas, Marshalls party.

Debbie Hoskins: They included you in the Christmas party, didn’t they, which was awesome for you.

Josh Hoskins: Yes Mum.

Debbie Hoskins: Yeah.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow. That’s awesome. There’s a lot of people there that you’re friendly with and have great relationships with and that’s really, really cool.

What do you like most about your job at Marshall Fleet Services?

Debbie Hoskins: What’s the best thing?

Josh Hoskins: I love both.

Debbie Hoskins: Yeah, you like both jobs, but what’s best about being at work?

We wrote this one down, didn’t we? So you love working as part of the team.

Josh Hoskins: Yes.

Debbie Hoskins: You like learning new things.

Josh Hoskins: New things.

Debbie Hoskins: You like to know that you’re doing a good job and you also like to earn money and choose what you spend it on, don’t you?

Josh Hoskins: Yes.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. Yeah. Those are all really important things. Oh, that’s awesome.

And so you have two jobs, as you were saying, and you recently, yeah, you started working a second job at Movianto. So what do you do there?

Josh Hoskins: Cartons. By one, one box, two box, five box, six box.

Debbie Hoskins: Yeah, so at Movianto it’s, it’s similar but it’s not quite the same is it?

Josh Hoskins: Yes Mum.

Debbie Hoskins: So at Movianto you help them with the cartons, don’t you? So you load up the pallets with all the different cartons that are going out to customers, don’t you?

Josh Hoskins: Yes I do.

Debbie Hoskins: So you help them do that. You use the scanner at Movianto as well, don’t you?

Josh Hoskins: Yes.

Debbie Hoskins: You help with stock rotation.

Josh Hoskins: Yeah.

Debbie Hoskins: You help with keeping it tidy.

Josh Hoskins: Yes.

Debbie Hoskins: And also, you do some health and safety things there as well, don’t you?

Josh Hoskins: Yes.

Debbie Hoskins: Yeah? Well done.

Carolyn Kiel: Right, very cool. And how did you find your job at Movianto?

Debbie Hoskins: Do you remember that one?

Josh Hoskins: Mum, help me.

Debbie Hoskins: So, the job at Movianto came about because of his work on LinkedIn. So, because Joshua’s network has spread far and wide, he had a message from the president of Movianto asking if Josh would like to go for a look around. So we were very excited to go and have a look around, weren’t we?

Josh Hoskins: Yes.

Debbie Hoskins: And we were chatting to them about what it’s like to have somebody who has Down syndrome working for you. So they were asking us questions so they could learn as much as they possibly could. And they offered him a job. And you said? Yes!

Josh Hoskins: Yes, I did.

Debbie Hoskins: And it was as easy as that. So I guess that’s down to the power of LinkedIn.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s amazing. That’s really cool. And that leads in to what I wanted to ask you about next is that, how did you get the idea to start writing on LinkedIn about your work and your life?

Debbie Hoskins: Do you remember?

Josh Hoskins: Mum, help me.

Debbie Hoskins: Okay, so back when he started working in August, 2022, Joshua was thrilled to be working. It was his biggest dream come true. And one of the things that he said to me is, “I want other people to do this, Mum.” So I, so I said I would think about how we could do that. So we thought about using LinkedIn, but we needed to check that the Down’s Syndrome Association would be happy with us doing that, and that Marshall Fleet Services would be happy with us doing that, because we kind of wanted to pull everything together for people to make it as easy as we could. Everybody was happy with it, and we started posting soon after he started work. And we post every week, trying to spread the message that: Look at what people with Down syndrome can do. Look at how we can make a difference. And please just give somebody a chance.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow, and you’ve definitely met so many people on LinkedIn because I see your posts and all the comments and it’s really great that you do that. And you know, I can tell you love your job. You want to help other people with Down syndrome who want to work. So I’m curious about how work has helped you, Josh. Like, how has it helped you grow as a person?

Josh Hoskins: Mum help me. I’m afraid.

Debbie Hoskins: He’s definitely got stage fright now.

We worked on your answers together, didn’t we? So we’ve worked on his answers and we’ve written them down.

So Joshua said that having a job is brilliant and he loves it. He’s much more confident. He’s got new skills. He’s learned new things. He’s got lots of new friends. He loves earning and spending money. You’re very good at that, aren’t you?

Josh Hoskins: Yes.

Debbie Hoskins: He makes many more decisions on his own now and he’s really grown up.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s awesome. And I think it was around Christmas, talking about spending money, you got, I think you saved up for a PlayStation 5.

Josh Hoskins: Yes I did.

Carolyn Kiel: Are you still enjoying playing the PlayStation 5?

Josh Hoskins: Yeah. Great at this.

Debbie Hoskins: Every day! (laughter)

Carolyn Kiel: (laughter)

In your opinion, why should employers consider hiring people with Down syndrome?

Josh Hoskins: Mum, help me.

Debbie Hoskins: So people like me with Down syndrome, Joshua said, have lots of skills. We can do lots of jobs, but many people don’t give us a chance. With the right help and support, we can do a brilliant job. I’m very reliable. I work hard. I love learning new things. I’m always on time. I’m cheerful. I’m a good team player. And not all employees do these things. We make the workplace a better place to be, was what you said, wasn’t it?

Josh Hoskins: Yes Mum.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, absolutely. How can employers learn the best ways to include people with Down syndrome in their companies?

Debbie Hoskins: So here in the United Kingdom, we’re very lucky to have WorkFit, who are part of the Down’s Syndrome Association. You register with WorkFit like Joshua did. They review you, and then they match you to an employer. There’s an interview, there’s a site visit, and if it all goes well, there’s a job offer.

So, WorkFit will train the employer, they’ll help the person with Down syndrome, and they make sure it all goes well. They do a review after a few weeks, and they’re always there for ongoing support. The support that Joshua’s had, and we’ve had as a family, as well as his employers, has been fantastic.

So I would say to anyone who’s thinking of taking on someone like Josh, is first of all, thank you. Secondly, give them a chance. And then finally, contact WorkFit, or any of the employers in the UK who’ve already taken somebody on, because they have the first hand experience of exactly what it feels like. And also the way in which morale changes once you make that transition to employ somebody with Down syndrome, because both of his employers have said that morale has gone through the roof in both places because he just brings a joy to the working environment.

Josh Hoskins: Yes Mum.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s great! Yeah. It just sounds like everybody wins in a way. It’s great for you. It’s great for your team and all your friends and coworkers. It’s great for the company. Oh, that’s awesome.

So Josh, I love reading your LinkedIn posts and I want other people to follow you and read them too. So where can people find you online to read your posts?

Debbie Hoskins: So Joshua and I sit down every week and we talk about what message he wants to get out that particular week. So he’s always really heavily involved. We go through lots of the comments. We talk about how we can help people who are asking us questions.

And most of the time it’s quite a quick thing to do. But recently it’s become more and more busy, hasn’t it? So we spend a lot more time doing it, but we’re happy because Joshua wants to make that difference.

So on LinkedIn, search for Joshua Hoskins, and his employers come up as Marshall Fleet Services and also as Movianto. Joshua really wants to have as many people follow him as possible, because he knows that once you get somebody from one company following, it kind of makes you a big ripple.

So he posts every week. It’s usually on Wednesdays. And at the moment he’s up to 2,660 followers. So it’s gone crazy recently, hasn’t it?

Josh Hoskins: Yes it has.

Debbie Hoskins: He posted last week about buying Easter eggs to help out our local food bank. And one of his new followers asked if they could set up a GoFundMe account to help him. They set the target at 750 pounds, which I thought was crazy high. But so far they’ve raised over 1,000 pounds. And that money is going to go to our local food bank and it will help fund their food parcels for several weeks.

So I think it’s, it is all about Down syndrome. It is all about employment, but it’s also about the difference that people like Joshua can make and do make. The message last week that spoke about Easter eggs had the biggest ever reaction that we’ve had, which was 797,000 impressions, which is like, we were very happy, weren’t we?

Josh Hoskins: Yes Mum.

Debbie Hoskins: It’s quite a lot of time to manage all of that and all of the comments. But, but that’s something that we make sure we do together, don’t we?

Josh Hoskins: Yes Mum.

Debbie Hoskins: Yeah. And Joshua is more than happy to get many more followers, and many more people looking at the posts every week, aren’t we?

Josh Hoskins: Yes Mum.

Debbie Hoskins: And ultimately for obviously more people with Down syndrome to get employed and for more companies to benefit from having someone like Joshua.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s awesome. Yeah. Josh, it’s amazing, the impact that you’re having, you know, not just at work, we, you know, we talked about work today, but you also, you volunteer, you are always so generous with your time, you travel, you do a lot and you share it with us. And it’s, it’s really wonderful. So thank you so much for sharing your life with us.

And I guess as a last question for today. You care a lot about inclusion for people with disabilities, people with Down syndrome. How can people help you get your message of inclusion out into the world?

Josh Hoskins: Thank you.

Debbie Hoskins: So firstly, Joshua is really grateful to everybody who looks at his posts on LinkedIn, to everybody who comments, to everybody who shares. So everybody that does that, it starts to help us to make a difference.

We really want employers to think about, can they employ somebody who is like Josh? And if they can, don’t just think about it, but go and do something about it. There’s a lot of help and support there for you. Every person deserves a chance and deserves an opportunity. So please do that.

Joshua, every week, talks about inclusion. He talks about people with Down syndrome working. And he also has the line that “my name is Joshua and I’m proving what I can do.” Lots of other people could prove what they can do, but we need employers to just give them that chance.

Carolyn Kiel: Absolutely. Thank you Debbie for your support of Josh and thank you Josh for all of the amazing advocacy that you do. And thank you for being on my show today.

Debbie Hoskins: Thank you.

Carolyn Kiel: Thanks for listening to Beyond 6 Seconds. Please help me spread the word about this podcast. Share it with a friend, give it a shout out on your social media, or write a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. You can find all of my episodes and sign up for my free newsletter at Beyond6seconds.net. Until next time.