Alice was referred to GRoW when she was looking to return to work after moving to a new area. Alice has now returned to her industry working as a Neighbouring Rights Assistant in a part-time capacity and has regained her confidence through the process.
Alice said “I had been working in the Music Industry but when my daughter was poorly I had to leave my job so I could look after her full time. I moved to Kingston at the beginning of the pandemic and being new to the area I did not have any support around me.
I needed to find a new job but it had to be on part time hours that would fit around my daughter and so I went to my local job centre who fortunately referred me to GRoW. I was struggling as a single parent and was feeling quite overwhelmed at the time, my confidence had really taken a hit through lockdown as being on my own with no one to bounce ideas off had left me feeling quite isolated. I had stopped believing in myself and really needed a boost so joining GRoW really couldn’t have come at a better time for me.
I went on the GRoW Bootcamp which took me through my aims and goals. It was great to have that opportunity to talk about my skills and what I can offer. I was introduced to other women on the GRoW Programme and we were brainstorming ideas, talking about our experiences and how we were all feeling. It was amazing to get that insight from others and it reminded me that I was more than capable. We created a Vision Board which looked at what I want for myself in the future and the process enabled me to rebuild some of my ambition. It is so easy to lose yourself when you haven’t worked in a while. When you have important responsibilities and priorities such as bringing up a child it takes over everything and becomes your whole focus but doing the Bootcamp gave that push in the right direction. Just talking to the other women made me realise I wasn’t alone in this and that I wasn’t failing.
After the Bootcamp I did the CV and Interview Workshops with Sonia which were massively helpful as they reminded me of what I can actually do. It was also a good opportunity to think about the type of job I want to do and what would be suitable for me in the future. I started thinking about changing my career path, possibly looking at working in a school and it made me feel more confident about my future prospects. Before I had a chance to investigate new opportunities however I was contacted by a previous work colleague to see if I was interested in returning to my former industry, working as a Neighbouring Rights Assistant for international musicians. The only problem was the job was full time which really wasn’t suitable for me and although I was interested I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to make it work. I talked it through with Liz at GRoW which was really helpful as she guided me on how best to address these issues with my former colleague and explore ways to talk about it. Liz advised me to set boundaries and let them know what would work for me. It really helped me to negotiate what would be best for me, and therefore what would be best for them. Offering me that flexibility to do the job on a part-time basis means they will get much more benefit from me as I won’t be trying to juggle my job with my child. The discussion went really well and they offered me the job.
The only challenge remaining that I had to address was getting suitable childcare. I spoke to Liz who introduced me to a benefit calculator that could help me manage my finances properly and she talked me through the process of how to find, choose and pay for childcare which was enormously helpful as I didn’t know where to start.
What I have come to realise now after going through this process with GRoW is that all the obstacles I was facing were nowhere near as big as they felt at the time. GRoW’s expertise helped me through it all and I really feel my confidence has returned. The only way now is up!”