Reshma rebuilds her confidence

Posted on by heathercette

Reshma came to the UK with her family from India in late 2021 and with a long gap in her employment was concerned about how she would rebuild her career. She joined Belina GRoW and has been fully engaged with activities. She has rebuilt her confidence and is now following her dreams.

Reshma said “I had tried to get back to work in India when my son started full time school but when the pandemic hit I had to abandon my hopes.  My family and I then moved to the UK and before I knew it I had been out of work since 2012.  As I had been a teacher in India I was looking for jobs that would suit my qualifications but after applying for some vacancies I was finding the interviews really difficult and just wasn’t getting anywhere.  I was concerned about how long I had been out of work for and was feeling like I was unemployable. I needed a new start and I needed a boost and fortunately GRoW came along just at the right time.

The GRoW Team were promoting their work at my son’s school about helping mums get back to work and I was immediately interested.  By this time I was desperate to start work again now that my son was in Year 3. I was interested in part-time or full-time work, preferably in a school but I was open to working in other sectors too.

I contacted GRoW and was introduced to Sonia so that we could do a review of my CV and so she could help me practice my interview techniques.  The CV Sonia did with me was absolutely amazing, it was such an improvement on the CV I had previously and it really helped me feel more confident.  At the one to one interview workshop I had so many questions to ask Sonia. I just didn’t know how best to represent myself but she was fantastic, answering all my questions and the by the end of the interview I felt so much better. I now feel really prepared if I get offered an interview and so much more confident.

Tosin was assigned to me as my personal Adviser and she discussed my options with me and encouraged me to attended all the different the GRoW events such as the Job Searching Workshops and the Coffee Mornings and each and every one of them was wonderfully useful.  I have applied for more jobs since my CV was updated, one of them is for a job at Brunel University as an Admissions Officer and they asked me to write 3600 words as part of the application. I wasn’t sure how to do it but Sonia and Tosin helped me, reviewing what I had written and correcting it in places so that it read much better. They also helped tailor a cover letter to go with the application and they have done the same with three other jobs I have applied for in retail at Matalan, WHSmith and Primark. Because of the CV Workshop I attended I learned how to tailor my CV to the job I am applying for so I did this myself when I applied for the retail jobs.

I am really keen to undertake more learning and Tosin and Kaneez are currently looking for a suitable Teaching Assistant course for me to attend at college. I am also going to be doing an Information, Advice and Guidance Course that GRoW offered me and I have found some free courses in basic maths and IT that I want to do too.

I would recommend anyone to go on the GRoW Programme as it has changed my world. After attending GRoW I feel I am now following my dreams.

Zainab prepares to return to work in schools

Posted on by heathercette

Zainab joined the GRoW project in Newham following a four week workshop focused on helping mums get back to work and presenting the many opportunities jobs in Schools can provide for working mums. Zainab has fully engaged with the GRoW Workshops and activities and is looking for volunteering opportunities in a school when her daughter starts Nursery in September.

Zainab said “I have a Batchelor of Commerce which I attained in my home country of India but when I moved to the UK in October 2015 I began a Level 2 Teaching Assistant course as I was keen to get a job in a school.  I had previously worked in a Nursery in India teaching children all aspects of the school curriculum and also did home tutoring to children of all ages and so I knew this was something I wanted to return to when the time was right for me.

In 2016 whilst studying for my Teaching Assistant course I was expecting my first child but I did manage to do some voluntary work in a school and then at an After School Club where I was teaching maths and different subjects to the children who attended. Within a year I was expecting my second child and so had two children under two which made it quite difficult for me to continue with my voluntary work and so I have been a stay at home mum for the past 5 years.

When I heard through my daughter’s Nursery that GRoW were running a 4-week workshop to help mums in Newham prepare to work in schools I was immediately attracted to it as my daughter is due to start school in September and I had been thinking about working again. Another mum from school went along with me to the first Workshop at Sheringham Childrens Centre and we both found it real informative and enjoyable. During one of the workshops Sonia from GRoW did a group CV session which made me realise that even though I already had quite a good CV from when I finished my T Level course that I could really benefit from updating it.  Ameisha from the GRoW Team did a one to one CV session with me to make it more attractive and it was just fantastic.

Being part of the Preparing to Work in Schools Programme was brilliant and it really helped me.  Just being around the other women who attended was a really good experience as I got to hear about all their different backgrounds, the type of work they had done previously and why they wanted to work in schools too.  Everyone had a different experience but we could all see the clear benefits of working in a school when you are bringing up children at the same time as it offers the flexibility that is important when you have a family.

One of the best things about the programme was that they gave us different ideas and tips. For example, they told us that how to present ourselves during an interview – how you should walk with your shoulders straight and to make eye contact.  Another really positive outcome from the Programme is that I was given the opportunity to do either a Food Hygiene or a Safeguarding Course for free.  I am going to opt for the Safeguarding course as I think this will benefit me more when working with children in a school.  I am aiming to do the course in August and am really looking forward to it.

I am really very happy and truly appreciative of the opportunities GRoW have offered me and I am going to be taking part in many of their Successful Summer activities that they have scheduled in July and August.  I am going to do as many as possible and then I will look to see whether there are any opportunities for volunteering work in a local school and keep my eye out for job vacancies at the same time!”

Syeda reaches for new goals in life

Posted on by heathercette

Syeda came to GRoW in July 2021 after being referred by her local job centre.  Syeda had been out of work for 3 years after being made redundant from her Post Office Branch Manager job and was looking to return to the workplace in a different role.  She has now set her sights on a teaching career and is currently studying for a Level 3 Teaching Assistant qualification.

Syeda said; “When I was made redundant my youngest son was only 1 and so I took some time out to spend with my family, which is something I hadn’t been able to do with my older child.  After a while though I felt it was time to get back to work but I didn’t want a job with the same level of responsibility as I had previously; my children now demand a lot of my time and energy and so I felt a change of career was necessary for the wellbeing of my family.

When I went to GRoW I felt really positive and hopeful as the job centre had explained how they have supported many women into work over the years and it was very clear when I first joined that the team place high importance on a good life/work balance.  I explained that I really wanted to find a job that would allow me to work from home, a customer service role or alternatively a job in a school where I would be able to work term time only and they understood this straight away.

I attended some of the GRoW Coffee Mornings which introduced me to the activities GRoW had to offer and I attended the CV Workshop with Sonia and the Job Search Workshops which were really helpful.  The Thursday Jobs Bulletin has also been really useful as it has shown me a good range of local jobs I can apply for and what what skills and experience employers are looking for.

My GRoW Adviser Saeema is so kind and understanding and has been a source of knowledge over the past year.  She has been my Adviser since day one and is absolutely fantastic.  It was Saeema who told me about a Level 3 Teaching Assistant qualification I could do which I found really appealing as enhancing my qualifications is something that is very important to me.  I have a honours masters from Bangladesh’s City and National University and since coming to this country I have been awarded a Graduate Certificate in World History. I really wanted to do more studying and the Teaching Assistant Course sounded really interesting.  What’s more, it is absolutely free and accessible online. I would never have known about it if were not for GRoW and I just thought I had nothing to lose, why not give it a go?

I have now started the course and submitted my first assessment.  I am really excited about it and it feels great to be back doing something good for my career and for myself after 15 years.  I am so looking forward to the change it will bring to my life and to my family.  My next step now is to work towards getting a job as a Teaching Assistant in a school but my goal is to become an actual teacher. I don’t want to stand still, I want to continue to grow and keep moving further towards achieving my goal.

Being with GRoW over the past year I have really got to understand the ethos of how they work as a team and what their values are.  They juggle their work with their children and work really hard and put in so much effort into the people they support.  I have so much admiration for what they do and am really thankful to have had the opportunity to be part of their programme.”