Adapting to work – Marie’s story

When Marie joined the Restart Scheme, she explained how she didn’t know where to start with applying for jobs. She wanted to brush up on her employability skills since a lot had changed to the application processes since she was last in work.

Marie struggled with childcare, which resulted in her coming out of work and made it hard for her when looking for flexible work to fit around nursery and school times. During her initial appointment with her Employment Adviser, Derek, they discussed this and other areas of job searching that she required support with.

It was identified that Marie wasn’t fully aware of the 30 hours free childcare that she was entitled to if she was in work. Derek provided some guidance on this, which allowed Marie to assess the options available to support her back into work.

Derek shared: “We completed a ‘Better Off Calculation’ with Marie, which gave her an idea of how returning to work would financially impact her - working either full or part-time hours.

“Marie was enthusiastic about the support on offer from the Restart Scheme, and she was able to boost her employability skills and confidence in her job search. After completing two sessions on our ‘Interview Skills’ course, Marie already showed a significant increase in confidence and felt ready to start applying for jobs.”

With previous experience and qualifications in HR and management she decided to continue her career by applying for similar roles. With Derek’s help, it wasn’t long before she was offered an interview with a local property management company for an administrator role.

After some mock interviews and practice questions with Derek, Marie was ready. And after a few days of her interview, she was offered the job!

Marie has since shared: “I am loving my new job role and my working routine around the children.”

The Restart Scheme continued to support Marie during the first few months of the role to ensure that she had a smooth transition back into work.