Kamini was referred to GRoW from her local Jobcentre Plus in January after she was made redundant from her admin job during lockdown. Kamini has applied for a variety of jobs and has an interview this week.
Kamini said “I have been out of work for a year after I lost my admin job due to the pandemic. I am a qualified education officer and worked previously as a teaching assistant but after losing my most recent job I have been open to all different types of job opportunities. GRoW has been really good for me as it has helped me to not just grow in confidence and motivation but it has helped me prepare for applying and getting a job. I recently applied for three jobs and I have an interview this week for an Exams Invigilator job and I have been also heard back from Royal Mail to say they will let me know when they are starting inductions. I am hoping I will get both jobs because one is during daytime hours and the Royal Mail job is in the evenings and I am confident I can balance both.
Sonia at GRoW runs an Interview Workshop which I recently attended to help me prepare. She also worked with me to improve my CV as it hadn’t been updated in a long time. I haven’t had an interview in many years and so I was quite nervous. Sonia held the session like a practice interview and gave me feedback at the end to advise me of areas for improvement. One of the most important pieces of advice she gave me was to take my time. During the practice I was answering her questions with short answers but she advised that I should expand on my answers and explain my thoughts. An interview is a two-way dialogue not an exam!
Something else I have gained from GRoW over the past year is the knowledge that you are not the only one in your situation. Being at home without a job can make you feel quite low and I was feeling like people would view me as lazy. When I came to GRoW I got to meet many other women in the same position as myself, trying to improve their chances of getting a job and it made me feel better to know I wasn’t the only one.
My adviser Kaneez also helped me so much, especially during lockdown when I had my children at home and didn’t have much time to myself. She gave me advice about the types of jobs I could look for and motivated me to look through the GRoW Jobs Bulletin and find jobs to apply for. She called me every week to try to keep me on track and help me to drive forward. I am really grateful for all their support and I am looking forward to my interview to put the new techniques I’ve learned into action.”