Angela Wilkins

I left education after taking a BTEC Sports course. I scraped through the course but had decided it wasn’t what I wanted to do as a job. After I left college I started looking for and applying for loads of jobs, but found I didn’t have the necessary skills to be able to compete with other people applying for the same jobs. After a number of months of applying for jobs my confidence went down, I felt very low and thought I would never be able to get a job. I decided I needed to do something to help myself and I needed to gain more skills, as many as possible.

I heard about the Garnsychan Partnerships Learn to Win project from a family member who was attending the courses. Although I had enjoyed ICT in school, used a computer at home for Facebook, Hotmail, searching the Internet, playing games etc I knew I didn’t have the skills to be able to use a computer in the work place so I signed up for the courses. I really enjoyed learning new skills and being shown how to search and apply for jobs properly. With the new skills I learnt I created a new CV and was able to update it more and more with the skills I gained.

After attending the courses, I got an interview for a part-time job, I felt a lot more confident going to the interview as I felt I had the right skills for the job. I got the job, working for a printing company which meant I would be using a computer daily, so I was able to use all the skills I had learnt so far. This gave my confidence a big boost. I continued attending the courses and learning lots more skills I also carried on applying for full time jobs and have now managed to secure a full job work for an insurance company.

Thanks to the Garnsychan Partnership and its Learn to Win project - I am now in permanent employment and feel much more confident.

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