Nicola was referred onto the Work and Health Programme with Maximus UK by her local JCP. She was facing redundancy and was living with her a speech and language disability. With support she gained an admin role working with the NHS.
James Clark, her Employment Advisor wanted to share his story of how he successfully supported Nicola to find meaningful work.
“When Nicola was referred to me, I realised she had speech and language impairment (aphasia) which affects her talking and listening. I was very patient with her and supportive throughout our conversations which she thanked me for. I could tell that she was a little apprehensive and very much lacking confidence.
“I knew that in order to help her I needed her CV straight away to discover her skills and experience. I worked on her C.V immediately and I condensed down the information and highlighted her skills. She was really happy with the new CV.
“I was then able to do some job searching for her and I sourced some jobs which she applied for, one of which was the NHS Administrator role.
“Nicola told me that she had been invited for an interview. I sent her some information to read, all about how to approach interviews. I then explained that we would talk about this in her Induction the next day.
“The following day I completed her Induction and set some time aside at the end to work through her strengths and weaknesses in interviews and highlight areas she needed to work on. I made suggestions as to how she should approach some questions and provided her with some more reading to go through.
“I booked in some extra time to go through everything with her. I was happy to hear that she had taken note of my feedback and I could already see improvement in her answers and her confidence.
“I asked Nicola to work Specifically on what the advert highlighted and what the NHS were looking for in an applicant. She was also unsure what some of the information meant in the advert so I took the time to bullet point each area and explain what it meant.
“Nicola was very much committed to working hard over the weekend. I wished her luck in her interview and then followed up with her afterwards. I then received a text message a few days after and Nicola mentioned she’d been offered the job, so I called to congratulate her!”
Nicola said of her time on the programme:
“James contacted me following my redundancy and my request for assistance in applying for jobs. I have a speech and language disability which meant I needed help to find suitable vacancies, and to make applications. When I was successful in making a shortlist, James helped me prepare for the online interview. He liaised with me to prepare answers to questions. I was successful and have started in the new job.
“Throughout the whole process, James maintained continual contact with me, and I am very grateful for his support.”
The Work and Health programme is funded by the Department for Work and Pensions and the European Social Fund.
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Area: Sussex
