Building my future - Megan’s story

When Megan joined the Restart Scheme, delivered by our partners at Triage, she was returning to work after taking time out to raise her family. As a single parent, she felt unsure how to navigate today’s ever-changing labour market and sought support to find a flexible, sustainable role that would fit around her family commitments while rebuilding her confidence and career.

Restart Scheme support is tailored through one-to-one guidance that considers each parent’s childcare needs, availability, skills, and career goals, helping them access flexible roles and personalised support to return to work confidently.

Megan met with her Employment Adviser, Andrea, who introduced her to the range of in-house courses and opportunities available. She completed several employability-focused courses, along with a funded childcare programme, which helped her build new skills and identify the sector she wanted to pursue.

Andrea shared: “Together we worked on a new CV, and tailored this to highlight hospitality, care work and customer service based on her previous experiences and transferrable skills. We carried out mock interview sessions to practice techniques, questions and answers, before starting her job search journey.

“Megan managed to secure three interviews, whilst working with our self-employment team to develop a long-term plan to support her dream of owning a mobile food van.”

Megan was offered a full-time position as a Sales Assistant with a leading telecommunications provider. This role will give her flexibility to support her family and give the opportunity to build funds to support her self-employed dream.

The Restart Scheme offers tailored support for participants interested in self-employment, providing guidance on business start-ups, access to relevant training, and help to develop sustainable long-term business plans. This ensures individuals can confidently build and grow their own ventures.

“With Megan’s determination and commitment, I have no doubt she will continue to be successful, and it has been a pleasure to support someone so driven who utilised and appreciated all our support”, said Andrea.