Your Journey

Welcome to the Restart Scheme – this is the start of your journey with us!

Everybody’s journey is different. But it always starts with your Employment Adviser understanding your job goals and your personal circumstances. Read on to find out more about how our personal support can help you.

1. Meet your Employment Adviser

You will meet your personal Employment Adviser and get your journey started.

Over a tea or coffee, you and your Employment Adviser will get to know each other. If you have spent money getting here, tell us – we can give you a cash refund if you have kept your receipt.

Together with your Employment Adviser, you will create an action plan. This plan is all about helping you find the right job for you. It will contain details of all the support we can offer you and it will be based around your personal situation.

If you need more privacy, you are welcome to use one of our private rooms to talk to your Employment Adviser. They are here to help. They will do all they can to support you to start working.

"I feel that the support I’ve received from Jamie and the team at Restart Scheme, has given me the confidence to be able to deal with any situation."

2. Develop your job skills

If you need to develop your skills or achieve qualifications for work, we can help.

The Restart Scheme gives you free access to our Skills Academy. The Academy will help you to improve your knowledge, skills and experience. Your Employment Adviser will help you to decide which courses will suit you best.

Our courses include:

  • Digital IT skills
  • Improving self-confidence and resilience
  • Writing a great CV
  • Completing a standout job application
  • Succeeding in an interview

Need to develop skills for a particular job role? We have training for jobs including administration, care, construction, customer service and warehousing. We can also provide funding for some external courses.

“I received great support beyond my imagination. The courses built my confidence and exposed me to a more effective and efficient way to land my dream job”

3. Improve your wellbeing

We can help you with your personal wellbeing during your job search.

We understand that poor health and wellbeing can sometimes make it difficult to start and stay in work.

If you need it, we can provide expert advice on managing your physical and mental health – at home and in the workplace. You can also request access for an Online Wellbeing Check through your Employment Adviser.

Our support sessions include:

  • Managing anxiety and stress
  • Sleeping well
  • Being more active
  • Eating well
  • Our wellbeing sessions are online, so you can take part from home. You are welcome to use the Digital Hub in your local office to access them.

“Junior regularly checked in with me and my wellbeing, and always kept me informed of any training opportunities. This support from Junior kept me going, as there were times, I felt like giving up."

4. Find the right job

Your Employment Adviser will make sure that the jobs you apply for are relevant, offer suitable hours and pay appropriately.

Our Recruitment Managers work closely with local employers to source exclusive vacancies. They can tell you what is currently available in your area. We also run Jobs Clubs and Jobs Fairs that offer lots of opportunities too.

We will guide you through your job applications. Once you successfully find work, we can help if your finances are tight before your first pay. This could include funding for travel, equipment or uniform.

We will also keep in touch as you start your new career to help with any problems and make sure you’re getting on well.

“It was my first paid opportunity in counselling, and it’s a really nice process to be at the other end, where I’m supporting people who are on the Restart Scheme.”

People stories

“I was nervous to begin with, but those feelings were replaced with excitement to start my new job!”

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