Damien has been on the Works Better programme since November 2017 after being referred by his work coach at Castleford Job Centre. He had low self-esteem and wasn’t sure what type of work he would like to do.
After reviewing his previous work history and Damien’s skills it was identified after meeting with his transitional support worker Rebekah that it would be beneficial for Damien to attend some employability training sessions which focussed on building his confidence and realising his potential.
This then led to Damien attending a sector specific workshop for those wanting to work in retail. Where he met the Wakefield BID manager, Elizabeth murphy and got an employer’s perspective of what it like to work in retail and to do some mock interviews with an external business.
It was identified here that it would support Damien when approaching employers if he had experience in working in a retail environment, so with his new found confidence and motivation Damien secured and interview for a work experience opportunity with Mencap in their Castleford branch and was successful.
Damien is currently being trained in all aspects of retail and will build his way up to using the till and processing cash and card transactions. He is really enjoying the part of his placement where he is interacting with customers and learning about working in customer service and is really positive about returning to work and the work experience opportunity has supported him to develop and feel more positive about applying for jobs in retail.
We had a chat to Damien about his Works Better journey so far and he said;
“Works Better has been very helpful giving useful tips and advice that gets you motivated. And the links to jobs are really beneficial for me.”