Restart Scheme
Having secured work almost immediately once he’d been referred to the Restart Scheme, Justin explains, “I had spent a couple of years out of work and was having no luck even securing a job interview. It was disheartening especially as the media were reporting record job opportunities.
My Work Coach at the Job Centre stopped me from feeling too dejected and often said, 'keep applying, eventually you'll get there'; although my confidence was gradually being chipped away. He put me in touch with the Restart Scheme saying they get really good feedback from them.
During my first meeting with Kelly my Job Coach at Serco, I gave my details and explained what type of job and hours I was looking for and she explained the support on offer from the Restart Scheme. It seemed very positive and by the second meeting Kelly had made two phone calls, both of which resulted in interviews.
The first, and the one I accepted, was for a production cleaner job at a factory very local to me; it’s quite rural and remote here with a lot of people having to commute an hour away or more. I started my new job the following week. And the staff here are very friendly and I found it easy to settle in. I feel so good that after being out of work for so long I finally feel like a valued member of a team again.”
He’s already made a great impression, as Kate from the recruitment firm CSA explains:
"We had a brilliant first phone call with Justin who had us hooked on his stories from his previous work experience as a cheese maker and we had to know more! He quickly interviewed with our client who loved him as much as we did, and he started immediately. Justin has now been in his role for a few weeks, and we have received excellent feedback from our client who is very impressed with his strong work ethic and ability to complete all tasks to a very high standard. We look forward to Justin’s future with us and working with Kelly again to secure more great candidates.”
