Here's a story from our Positive People team in Somerset:
Clive from Cosmic met Elizabeth (Liz) in Wells Job Centre in early December. She had asked for help as she had recently been made redundant, but her circumstances meant the job centre couldn’t sign her on or even offer much in the way of advice. They hoped that Positive People could give Liz a hand in order to start job searching.
It had been a long time since Liz had needed to look for work, so long that she had never needed a digital CV. In fact, she has only had 4 jobs since 1970! Although only a few years from retirement, Liz is fit, healthy and eager to work. She has internet at home, and a tablet, but hadn’t used email, online job sites or a digital CV, so was a little lost as to where to start.
The Positive People team from Abilities were able to move fast and sign her onto the program before Christmas. Liz attended the weekly drop-in in Wells on the first session of the New Year and with the help of Clive from Cosmic learnt the basics of operating a PC: from setting up an email address to making a start on writing up her CV in Microsoft Word. By the end of her second session she had finished her CV and learnt how to print it out. She also learnt how to send and receive emails from her tablet, all key skills for jobhunting online.
Session 3 focused on how Liz could access and update her CV using her tablet and using the Indeed job seeking app and website.
Not one to stand still for long, Liz spent the following week handing out the CV’s she had printed, and by her final digital session with Clive she had found a job. She was on the program just short of 4 weeks but had received the support she had been missing to move forward into employment.
Liz said “I’ve really enjoyed learning some basic computer skills and if I have time, I’d like to attend the beginners' course here at Somerset Skills and Learning. I might even try to book my next holiday on my tablet!”
Well done Liz!