Case Studies
Yvonne
Yvonne had been working as an air hostess when she was unexpectedly made redundant. When she contacted nextstep, it was clear Yvonne had lost her focus and drive for getting back into employment. She lacked confidence in her own abilities and skills.
Yvonne attended a number of nextstep sessions at her local community centre. The nextstep adviser decided to treat Yvonne’s first session as an informal chat, to discuss her skills and increase her self-esteem. Throughout the following sessions, they also offered Yvonne assistance with writing an up to date cv, so that she could see what she had to offer an employer. Yvonne admitted she needed to become more motivated and agreed with the adviser that she was more much more capable than she had previously thought.
Once the cv had been completed, Yvonne was ready to begin searching for employment. She had requested several application forms and the adviser spent another session giving Yvonne tips on completing them. Yvonne then said she felt comfortable to do this herself and continued to apply for jobs. She was particularly interested in a vacancy for a government passenger analyst, as this had a strong connection to her previous vocation as an air hostess.
Yvonne was thrilled when she was offered this full time position and contacted the nextstep adviser to inform them of her success. She thanked the adviser for restoring her confidence and keeping her motivated.
Patrick
Patrick had been unemployed for 4 months when he contacted nextstep. He was suffering from extremely low self esteem, having already experienced problems with the local jobcentre. His continuous arguments with the staff had resulted in his benefit becoming suspended.
In his first meeting with the nextstep adviser, Patrick told them he did not know what kind of career he wanted to pursue. When the adviser enquired about his employment history, Patrick said he had worked in a number of unrelated and low paid jobs.
The adviser registered Patrick onto the Career Finder programme, so that he could assess his skills and find careers he would enjoy and was most suited to. By doing this Patrick would be able to focus on a particular career pathway.
Patrick did not have a current cv and was unsure of how to create one. The adviser provided him with a simple template to work from and offered to work on the document with Patrick in the next session. Once this was completed, Patrick was keen to begin applying for work and the adviser helped him to register on to a number of online jobsites.
The adviser and Patrick both agreed that it would also be beneficial to update his IT skills, as these could be improved upon. The adviser referred him for a short course at a local college to resolve this. During this period, Patrick had regular nextstep appointments, which helped to keep him motivated and focused on the course.
Having completed the IT course, Patrick was successful in finding employment via a jobsite the adviser had recommended. He has remained in full-time employment since.
Tommy
Tommy was referred to the IES nextstep advisor via St Marylebone JobCentre Plus. He had extensive experience in the construction sector, but had been made redundant four weeks prior to coming to see the nextstep advisor. He felt that at nearly 50, his age was against him; he had almost given up on finding employment in the UK and was considering looking abroad for work.
At the initial nextstep session, Tommy and the advisor discussed previous work experience and educational history with a view to updating his CV. As it stood, this did not convey the full range of Tommy’s experience, which included working in a variety of construction projects at various levels.
During a subsequent appointment, they focussed on various employment opportunities and identified RELAY (Olympic jobs) as a possible choice. The advisor researched the requirements of registering with RELAY and Tommy brought in the documents and a completed pre-screening form. The advisor helped Tommy to obtain those documents he did not already have and emailed him the updated CV so that he could access it and job search himself.
Tommy submitted his CV to various vacancies and the advisor helped him to register with Westminster libraries so that he could use IT equipment and software. Tommy also used the libraries for job searches and remained in email contact with the advisor. He also continued to visit the job centre on a regular basis to discuss vacancies.
In June 2009, Tommy submitted a CV to RELAY for a position as Clerk of Works. However he was informed that that the CV lacked detail on Health and Safety and was invited to resubmit an updated CV.
Tommy subsequently visited the nextstep advisor to inform him that he had not been offered the Clerk of Works position, but instead was offered the role of Project Manager and now needed to recruit 6 new members of staff for the project. Furthermore he intended to recruit unemployed people who met the requirements.
Tommy felt that the nextstep session had given him the confidence to view his age as an asset in terms of experience as opposed to a barrier to finding employment.
Emma
Having been made homeless following family disputes, 18 year old Emma was living alone and had been unemployed for more than 6 months when her JobCentre Plus PA referred her to an IES nextstep advisor.
The advisor called Emma prior to her appointment to confirm her attendance and learnt that Emma was interested in childcare, so she researched some local courses in preparation. In addition, she also found out that Emma had in fact completed her 1st level in BTEC Art and Design before leaving school.
At the nextstep appointment, Emma spoke about her work history which included reception work, waiting and some voluntary work with disabled children. As the advisor questioned her about other interests, it emerged that Emma was very interested in IT, particularly in IT applications, but had not considered any career options beyond childcare. By the end of the session, Emma had changed the focus of the discussion from courses in childcare to opportunities in IT, as she felt this would be a career path she could develop and that would hold her interest.
Emma was very clear that she was searching for a more in-depth course, beyond basic IT skills and she also wanted to make a full commitment to studying. The advisor located a suitable full time course at Lambeth College. After visiting the college, Emma was convinced that both the course content and the full time nature of the course were just what she was looking for. However, she was concerned that by returning to education she would lose her job seekers allowance. The nextstep advisor liaised with Emma’s Personal Advisor at JobCentre Plus who advised that Emma’s age and domestic circumstances would entitle her to income support during her training.
The nextstep advisor helped Emma with her college application and the JobCentre Plus Personal Advisor arranged to switch her jobseekers allowance to income support. In early September Emma began an IT course at Lambeth College where she is happily attending 5 days per week, working towards a 1 year full time BTEC First Diploma.
Emma was proud that she managed to get a position on the course, she said she had to undergo an assessment when she went to enrol and passed without a problem. This also built her confidence. Emma felt that having to go to college 5 days would set good routines into her life and help prepare her for future work.
Claire
Claire is a graphic designer with over 7 years working in the publishing industry. Unfortunately, due to economic downturn in the industry she found herself out of work, with opportunities few and far between. After 3 months of unemployment and self-reflection, she felt this enforced break could actually offer an opportunity to make slight changes in her career goals.
As a designer she was used to using industry-specific hard skills and tools, but now she wanted to find a role that utilised softer skills such as project management, client service and strategic planning. Whilst she had transferable skills, she did not know how to demonstrate these skills in practical form from a job-hunting perspective.
She was referred to an IES nextstep advisor by Kennington JobCentre Plus. During the initial session, they worked together to define the steps that Claire would need to take to achieve her goal.
In subsequent sessions, the advisor questioned her on all aspects of her work history in order to draw out her transferable skills. A CV was formulated from these discussions. The sessions gave Claire insight into her strengths, weaknesses, aspects of her work that she did and did not enjoy and boosted her confidence in approaching future employers. One skills gap that emerged was in Claire’s IT experience; as she had always used Macs, she lacked sufficient experience in using the MS Office suites. This was addressed by enrolling her in a short IT course at CityLit.
Claire’s other tasks were to speak to her extensive contacts in the industry and to find out more about the jobs that appealed to her e.g. to speak to a project manager about the responsibilities involved and the skills essential or desirable for the position. She then drew upon this research to fill in any knowledge gaps and strengthen her position as a job hunter.
The momentum gained from the nextstep sessions resulted in Claire finding a part-time job as a graphic designer. Furthermore, as part of her action plan in filling the skills gaps, she has started doing voluntary work for a charitable organisation where she is under the mentorship of an industry leading figure in design and branding.
Andy
At the time of his nextstep session, Andy had been unemployed for more than a year. With few qualifications, the prospect of finding suitable employment to-date seemed bleak.
The local Jobcentre suggested that Andy might also find nextstep helpful, so he arranged an appointment with a nextstep adviser.
Andy’s meeting with his nextstep adviser included:
• Understanding his current situation, needs and plans for the future
• Understanding and discussing his preferred industry area
• Helping him to understand the value of a good CV and cover letter
• Discussing the interview process and techniques
• Exploring training opportunities
• Exploring job opportunities
As Andy was keen to find suitable full-time employment as quickly as possible, the session focussed on the interview process.
Andy already had a one-page CV which had been produced for him by a training provider, but this CV made little reference to his true career history or transferable skills, so the nextstep adviser started again and took details of Andy’s full career history and education. He also showed Andy how to tailor his CV for different types of job application by drawing attention to the most suitable of Andy’s skills in each case.
Andy didn’t have many IT skills, so the nextstep adviser recommended a computer course at a local training provider. Within a short time, Andy found a full-time retail position, which he enjoys very much.
Andy was very happy with the support he received from his nextstep session, and believes it was important in helping him find his new job. He found nextstep very informative and relevant to his needs. Andy said he was particularly grateful for the help nextstep gave him on writing his CV and the Interview process. Andy was able to remember the advice during his interview, and he firmly believes this helped him to be success at the interview for his new job.
Di
Di is a lone parent. She found out about nextstep through some information she came across in her local library.
At her first session in September 2008, Di and her nextstep adviser discussed her background. Di had very low self esteem, and lacked confidence in her skills. She had left school without any qualifications, but had successfully raised eight children. Now the children were all at school, or college, Di was unsure what to do next.
The nextstep adviser began by encouraging Di to look at what she had achieved, and to realise that she already had a range of important skills, which she had used to raise her family.
A year ago, Di had completed an 'Introduction to Counselling' course, and had enjoyed this very much. Di explained to the adviser that she had helped people through difficulties in the past, and had a lot of empathy with people who had been through similar experiences to her own. Although she did not want to work as a counsellor, she was still interested in helping people.
Two weeks later Di went to see her nextstep adviser to work on a 'Skills and Interests' assessment. The assessment confirmed that Di was a 'people' person, with good social skills. The adviser suggested doing some voluntary work at the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), and checked the CAB website to see if there were any local vacancies. There were some, and so Di registered herself with the local Volunteer Bureau.
Within a few weeks Di had started voluntary work at two Citizens Advice Bureau branches, and said she was enjoying it very much. The manager had told Di that “She was just the sort of person they were looking for”, which boosted her confidence and made her feel very positive. Di will now qualify for the CAB training scheme, and is hoping to get an NVQ in Advice and Guidance within a year.
