Mara was looking to return to work when her youngest child started school but was finding the job search a difficult and disheartening process. Mara found help through the GRoW Programme.
Mara said “I first heard about GRoW through my local job centre. I had been looking and applying for jobs for about a year but was getting no luck. I had hoped to build on my experience of office and retail work but was finding it so hard to get the right hours that suited my responsibilities as a single mum to two children. So many of the retail jobs wanted me to work evenings which just wouldn’t work for me and the constant job searching was really starting to take its toll. Rob at my local job centre suggested I go to GRoW at Botwell Green Library to see if they could help.”
Liz Sewell, GRoW Programme Director said “Mara was already quite a confident person when she came to us but had been out of the workplace for some time and was finding that things had actually changed quite a lot, especially in the retail sector where she had previous experience of working. She had done all the right things, signed up with numerous online Jobs sites, was busy volunteering at her local church and at her son’s school and had been to a few interviews too. Nevertheless she was starting to feel disappointed and disheartened. She was beginning to lose confidence and just needed a boost and an extra push.”
Mara met with Liz a couple of times and gained some new interview techniques and some advice to bring her CV up to speed. Mara said “the help Liz gave me was so useful, she is such a positive person and speaking with the other women on the programme also helped me gain confidence and made me believe I could do this. The boost they gave me really had an impact, it made feel I could do anything if I just put my mind to it. When a vacancy came up for a position at my son’s school as an After School and Breakfast Club Support Worker Rob and Liz really encouraged me to apply for it. I was asked to attend two interviews and I put the new techniques I had learned to good use and was offered the job! The job was initially a zero hours contract but after speaking with them at the interview they actually made it a permanent part-time position and there’s a good chance they will offer me more hours as the school is extending its classroom sizes. To say I’m over the moon is an understatement!”