Participant A engaged in Back in the Game having just been made redundant after having worked for 30 years in the same industry. The redundancy left participant A feeling considerably lost, struggling with the concept of being out of work and really lacking in confidence as to how to find new employment.
Having been reassured by course tutor, Anthony, that the Back in the Game programme would support participant A to identify transferable skills and put his employability skills towards new employment opportunities, Participant A’s confidence started to build.
The core aim for this participant was to ensure that an up to date CV was in place which showcased the level of experience within employment, whilst also supporting the participant to understand the local labour market and which specific sectors skills and experience would be transferable to.
Having the support to develop the CV eased the worry Participant A was feeling and seeing the experience on paper and how it mapped to jobs available really built up confidence but there was still uncertainty around what the best route back into employment actually was.
To alleviate this, Participant A was provided with further information, advice and guidance by the course tutor, working together to identify a routeway based on skills, personal preferences, experience and available opportunities.
The interview process went brilliant and the participant told us a week later that they had been successful.
Participant A was a real people person with good customer service skills and enjoyed working independently and as a team. Knowing that any job role now involves ICT usage, the Foundation supported Participant A to develop digital skills for employability, which helped progress with an online application for a delivery driver role with the retail giant ASDA.
Participant A continued to engage in the course whilst awaiting a response from the online application, using digital skills he had developed to continue to apply for roles and communicate via email and online application portals and after a week, an invite to interview was returned from ASDA.
Participant A then told us that they had never had a formal interview before so our tutors quickly worked to complete mock interviews and tailored delivery of the programme to work on interview preparation and key skills, with the whole group getting involved to support.
The interview process went brilliant and the participant told us a week later that they had been successful and were now employed full time as a delivery driver. The participant has continued to be employed since March and has now fully achieved a Level 1 Certificate in Personal and Social Development.