Job enlightenment – Simon’s story

When Simon joined the Restart Scheme, he shared with us that he had a kidney transplant eight years ago and had been out of work ever since. He considered his lack of interview skills, self-confidence and IT skills as his main barriers when looking for work.

All these barriers were taken into consideration when creating an action plan for Simon to cover the areas of support we could provide. Employment Adviser, Stacey, began working with Simon to increase his confidence and build on his employability skills. Simon enrolled onto several of our in-house courses with Skills Trainer, Kurtis. These gave Simon clarity and advanced knowledge on digital inclusion, transferrable skills, money management and self confidence and resilience.

Stacey shared: “Simon completed a total of 16 course sessions throughout his time on the Restart Scheme, which has really taken him out of his comfort zone, and I have seen how much more comfortable and confident he now is in himself. It has been a pleasure to see his progress unfold during his time with us.

“Simon attended my job club sessions, where we had 1-2-1 time to focus on working with the computers, I was able to provide digital support with him, to become more familiar with the online job search process.

“Most recently, we booked Simon onto a recruitment day that was hosted by a local theme park. He attended and sourced more information about the job vacancies that they had available.

“Simon was in fact offered a job on the catering team that very same day!

“He has since shared that he has really enjoyed his time on the Restart Scheme, and it has been lovely to see the progress that he has made with his newfound confidence. Simon is our 1000th participant into work from the Restart Scheme Southend office, which is quite an achievement!

“Well done, Simon, and well-done Southend team!”