Youth Employment Initiative helps Caitlin build confidence
A lack of confidence can be a significant barrier for a young person searching for employment. Local volunteer Caitlin was looking for work in the retail sector when she was referred to Business in the Communities (BITC) Routeways Youth Employment programme in Teesside by her job centre work coach.
Having previously worked in childcare, Caitlin was becoming increasingly discouraged while balancing her job search with volunteering commitments at a local charity shop and didn’t know where to turn for support. “I was getting frustrated with not hearing back when I had put my CV into shops. It makes you feel worthless. This really sets you back and you think is this going to be it now. I was very shy and lacked confidence”.
BITC’s Employment programme helps Caitlin gain essential experience
Caitlin was assigned a dedicated programme manager at BITC for one-to-one employability support to help her set out goals and an action plan to help her move towards a new job in retail.
She joined the retail employment programme run by BITC and BITC member Next plc, which allowed her to spend time with the retailer and build her confidence, knowledge and skills. Caitlin started out online, meeting key contacts and learning about the organisation and recruitment processes. She was then shown around the high street store and warehouse, hearing from different team members and eventually going through a practice interview with the employer, getting invaluable feedback by moving through the organisations own recruitment practices.
“Working with the BITC programme and Next built my confidence up and helped me learn more about retail. I found it very interesting to go behind the scenes in the store and the warehouse and see all the different departments and so much more that goes into the shop. This really helped build my confidence”.
Working with BITC and Next on the programme built my confidence up and helped me learn more about retail.
Caitlin
Practice makes perfect and leads to success for Caitlin
The programme and interview practice from the business helped Caitlin prepare for real-life interviews. Caitlin received CV and application support from BITC and soon became a successful applicant managing to secure a Retail Assistant role.
“I set a goal to be working in retail and building my confidence was very important for me to do this. Receiving the support from BITC and Next made a big difference and gave me confidence and also new knowledge and skills for working in retail”.
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