A different approach – Amy’s story

Amy joined the Restart Scheme, delivered by our partners at Triage, after a period of unemployment due to raising her family. Amy tells us about her experience:

“When I joined the Restart Scheme, I was a bit scared and I didn’t have the motivation to even look for work, I found that being a lone parent of two was a full-time job. However, when I met my Employment Adviser Andrea, I soon realised how being back in work could benefit me and my family.”

Andrea took time to get to know Amy’s situation and job goals. Together they identified potential barriers, and other factors that made finding work difficult for her. “As a single parent, childcare was a significant barrier for Amy, so I was able to support by providing contacts to childcare providers and information on government support”, said Andrea. Together they worked out the entitled hours available and completed a Better Off Calculator to give insight on how much better off Amy would be working full and part-time hours.

Like Amy, many of our participants benefit from free in-house course sessions that focus on various employability skills such as: updating and tailoring CVs, exploring transferrable skills, and job applications.

Andrea told us: “Over the next few weeks, we saw Amy flourish, and enjoying the support which gave her confidence to start applying for jobs.”

Our experienced Employment Advisers will assess participants readiness to work, identifying their strengths, needs and proximity to finding a sustainable job that suits them.

“When I began applying for jobs, initially I was applying for anything”, said Amy when reflecting on her first few interviews that gave her experience. From this experience, Amy was able to identify what she wanted from an employer, as well as the type of job sector and working hours that would suit her most.

“Andrea and the team have managed to boost my motivation towards finding work. Knowing they have pushed me out of my shell, improving my confidence and approach, I feel that they have made me into the person I am today.

“I now have a cleaning role with part-time hours that suit me. Eventually, my goal is to find a job in admin that has flexible hours to suit the school runs, so until that happens, I’m happy to continue my new job, and working up to that stage.

“I want to thank Andrea and the rest of the team at Restart Scheme for helping me through it all. I am so grateful for everything!”