Rameen came to the GRoW Programme in July 2022 looking for support to get back to work. Rameen had not worked since 2010 when she came to the UK from Pakistan and was lacking in confidence and confused about how to start. She is now on her way to getting a job and full of confidence and hope about her future.
Rameen said “I saw an advert for GRoW at my daughter’s school and was interested in contacting them but at that time I had no confidence and was so scared about the whole prospect of going back to work. I had worked in a bank and also worked in a school when I lived in Pakistan but I gave up my job in 2010 when I got married and moved to the UK with my husband. I was really feeling that I was ‘just a mum’ but as my youngest child was in Reception I wanted to get back to work and move on with my life in a different way now that I had some time to myself.
When I contacted GRoW I was put in touch with Saeema and we arranged to meet. I remember I was sitting in my car at 9am waiting to meet her and I was so scared I was thinking of bailing out and driving home! I am so glad I didn’t though because when she came to meet me she immediately put me at ease and I felt much better. Straight away she asked me what I was interested in doing and told me she could help me build new skills by putting me through some training courses. Soon afterwards I started a Business Administration course at Uxbridge College which was supposed to take 3 months to complete but only took me one month! I started the course in August and in September the college telephoned me to say I was doing so well that I could finish it more quickly than intended. It really boosted my confidence to do so well and was a real turning point for me. It was such a great experience to be learning new skills, meeting new people and making friends.
As I was interested in working Monday to Friday during school hours I went on to the Preparing to Work in Schools course through GRoW where I learned about the kind of qualifications and experience I would need to get a job in a school. Liz recommended that I take a Safeguarding Training course which I will be starting this week which will help me achieve my goal of getting full time work but in the meantime I have been applying for a range of jobs including part-time positions.
Since going on Sonia’s Interview Workshop I feel so much more confident about applying for jobs. She taught me so much in my mock interview that I then went on to have real interviews with potential employers and felt really confident doing it. I now don’t worry about having an interview or applying for jobs because I feel I have the confidence now to go back to work.
I have been looking for admin and retail jobs and have been applying online as well as dropping my CV into companies. I can honestly say that within a few months of being supported by the GRoW Team I have built up so much confidence and it is making such a difference to my wellbeing and life in general. I have a couple of interviews coming up at some retail stores in the next few weeks so am hopeful that I will be offered one of those positions. Whatever happens I feel like things have really changed for me and it’s only a matter of time before I am back working again.”