Support and success – Ahmed’s story

Ahmed recently moved to the UK as a refugee from Afghanistan and previously worked as a plasterer. When he moved, he found it difficult to find a job in plastering as his certificates from Afghanistan were not valid. As well as a language barrier, this became another barrier for Ahmed when settling into his community and trying to find work.

When Ahmed was referred to the Restart Scheme – delivered by our partners at Northern Rights, he met his Employment Adviser, Derek, who got know his transferrable skills, previous work experience, and career goals for the future. Derek identified that Ahmed needed a CV and ESOL support and prioritised the next few months to work around this.

Our team of experienced Employment Advisers work closely with their participants to co-produce a SMART work-focused plan with at least one defined job goal, relevant to the local labour market. Individual action plans create a structure or realistic targets for participants to achieve, as they work closer to their end goal of employment.

Together they created a professional CV, highlighting all of Ahmed’s skills and experience, and in the meantime, he attended ESOL sessions which boosted his confidence in written and spoken English. Derek and Ahmed utilised translation apps during their appointments, which seemed to help Ahmed pick up more context in conversations too.

The confidence that Ahmed built from ESOL classes, led him to complete other in-house courses focusing on interview skills, job searching, workplace ethics and more.

Skills Trainer, Leigh said: “Ahmed was always engaged in discussions around identifying his skills and how to make the most of this understanding when applying for roles. During this time, he was also actively job seeking. Shortly after he had completed our course: Understanding your CV, Ahmed successfully gained employment.”

After carefully preparing for his interview, Ahmed was offered the job just a few days later. Derek was on hand to support with his transition into work and covered his travel costs until his first payday. Derek completed a Better Off Calculation with Ahmed to give insight on how he would be financially better off in employment.

Derek told us:

“Even though Ahmed has been out of paid employment for several years, his transferrable skills will support him to move forward. Ahmed now has a job cleaning boilers for a construction firm, which is a foot in the door getting back into construction.

“We wish Ahmed all the best in his new role and for the future.”