Haverford West resident, Gillian Davies, 57 came to Workways+ following redundancy from her job as a receptionist for a local car dealership. Gillian had been in the job for four years and had been expecting to work there until she retired. Like many businesses, her employer had been hit hard by the financial impact of Covid.
Redundancy had a negative impact on Gillian’s self-confidence and she became worried that she would not get another job in her local area. Self-doubt and anxiety created stress for Gillian and she started to question the value of the skills she had. Gillian also needs a hearing aid and she wondered what affect this may have on her future employment.
Workways+ assigned Gillian a Mentor and an Employment Liaison Officer to work with her to help get her life back on track. Workways+ Mentors work with unemployed people to help with the support they need to get job ready. This includes confidence building, skill development, job search, interview techniques and funded training. Employer Liaison Officers work closely with local employers and can put Workways+ participants forward for job interviews. These can include jobs that have not been advertised elsewhere.
Covid restrictions meant Gillian would have her support meetings online and over the phone, however this wasn’t a problem with Workways+ adept at delivering support using a variety of media.
First challenge was to help Gillian regain her confidence. Workways+ helped her identify the skills she has and where they would best be directed. Types of jobs were identified and Gillian’s strengths were matched to the person specification. Gillian could see there was a definite role she could apply for and this filled her with confidence.
The Workways+ team helped Gillian create CVs and cover letters for different sectors. They also sent her texts with potential jobs to consider.
Gillian had never had an online interview before and knew that potential employers might chose this way of interviewing. So, to help her prepare, she had a Workways+ mock interview on ‘WhatsApp’. Once Gillian started applying for jobs with Workways+ support, she soon had interviews in different sectors. Before each interview, she went over her application with her ELO and was emailed links to ‘You Tube’ videos and tutorials to research the sectors.
Gillian valued being able to receive messages of support on her phone and keeping in touch helped her to be motivated while waiting for news about jobs.
To everyone’s delight it wasn’t long before Gillian secured a receptionist job at her local doctor’s surgery, a job she is really enjoying.
“Redundancy for me came as a devastating and terrible blow – but Workways+ help was just incredible. My self-esteem had gone AWOL, even being armed with a glowing reference from my former employer didn’t prepare me for being in the job market again. My Mentor and ELO really opened my eyes to how my job search and CV needed to be structured. After nine weeks of learning to craft my CV and practicing for interviews, my confidence shot up and I am now working again. I have a job I’m suited to and my purpose and fizz are back. Yes, we all need an income but we all need help sometimes and ringing Workways+ was one of my better decisions. Thank you to two ‘top girls’, without their support, I’d still be looking for my sparkle!!”
Workways+ is part funded by the European Social Fund through the Welsh Government.