European Social Fund in England

‘It looks so amazing – that I could have cried!’

Gillian Sanderson, 33, from Nottingham had always lacked confidence. This stemmed from being bullied at school for wearing a huge plaster cast following a back operation. Gillian also had speech therapy when she was younger and still has an impediment. She then went on to work in the catering and hospitality trade where she was disillusioned and wasn’t making the most of her skills.

However, in just over three months with Tribal on the ESF and LSC East Midlands Skills for Jobs project, Gillian regained her confidence and found a job in June as a community centre caretaker.

Just ten days after her first meeting with adviser Yvonne Walton, Gillian started to feel more positive and had a ‘new found inner confidence’.

Yvonne worked with Gillian to revise her CV and found that she had been underselling herself and had a whole range of key skills which could be used in a variety of work – not just catering. Gillian describes her revamped CV,

“It looked so amazing – that I could have cried!”

Yvonne said, “By talking through her day to day work activities we could pick out dozens of key skills. In the end, her CV ran to three pages long so we had the luxury of picking out the highlights.”

With this confidence boost, her new CV was sent out to prospective employers. Gillian also began volunteering at an after school club which she said was due to her new-found confidence. She also benefitted from one of Tribal’s training courses and now has a certificate in Level 2 Awareness in Health and Safety.

Gillian’s new role as a caretaker may traditionally be a male one, but Gillian reckons that as a woman, she can bring even more to the job, “With my social skills that were essential when I worked in the hospitality trade, I can help people feel more at home and look after everyone.

“I have already recommended Skills for Jobs to others and think more people need to hear about it as its helped turn my life around. Now I’m looking ahead to my long-term career, as I’ve realised from previous voluntary roles with schools and youth clubs that I really want to work with children and would love to get into childcare.”

And as her adviser comments,

“The world is Gillian’s oyster. She is due to learn even more new skills under the LSC’s Train to Gain programme, which we at Tribal also run.”

Project Information (July 2009)

The project ‘Skills for Jobs', run by Tribal Community Development Team has been awarded around £1.1million from the 2007-2013 ESF programme in England and the LSC East Midlands.

For more information contact Louise Mountenay by email or on 0845 094 3140