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Gavin back on board the work route thanks to Euro-funded job project

Made redundant last autumn, father-of-three Gavin Wesson, 31 from Top Valley in Nottingham had his confidence shattered as he had never been out of work before.

Being dyslexic and needing to find a job in these tough times, Gavin’s self esteem was hit again when he failed a written entrance test to become a bus driver for Nottingham City Transport.
Gavin’s luck then changed when he was referred to a Euro-funded project, Skills for Jobs, run by Care Training East Midlands. His confidence was boosted by job search tips, CV writing and one-to-one advice.
Skills for Jobs is funded by almost £840,000 from the European Social Fund (ESF) 2007-13 and the Learning and Skills Council East Midlands. ESF is investing £376m overall to boost skills and jobs in the region, which is even more vital in this current economic climate.
Gavin explains, “When my lorry driving work ended, I was suddenly struggling to financially support my young family which was something I wasn’t use to.
“All my previous jobs had been gained by word of mouth, so I have never had to go for a formal interview before, never mind an entrance test. I was completely out of my comfort zone. The support I got from Care Training, and my adviser Jessica, was brilliant and gave me the confidence to try again for the bus driver job.”
Gavin got the chance to re-take his entrance test – and achieved the second highest pass rate of the day. He started his bus driver training in June and is due to finish soon.
“The second time round I was far more confident and I did the test on coloured paper – which may sound a bit odd – but for me, it helped the words stand out and this made all the difference.”
His adviser Jessica Grice said, “We were all delighted when Gavin passed the entrance test – literally with flying colours - to get a permanent job. When I first met Gavin, he was obviously concerned by his redundancy and the current job market. We assessed his skills and enrolled him onto an adult literacy course and customer service training programme, to further help his bus driver application.
“We will also continue to support Gavin over the next few months and he’s planning to enrol onto the NVQ level 2 in passenger carrying vehicle driving to further boost his skills and qualifications.”
Gavin added,“The training was great, I really enjoyed being able to practice my customer skills with people in a similar position to me.”

 

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