The challenge

Owen was referred by the St Austell Job Centre to our Motiv-8 U programme helping people who are aged 18+ in South East Cornwall into work, training or further education.

Owen was sofa surfing in St Austell due to a relationship breakdown, through this difficult period he had lost many of his personal possessions. This very importantly included his right to work evidence and also many of his clothes. He had had a job at this time but he had to leave his employment as he could no longer get to work due to lack of transport.

What we did

Owen’s referral from the St Austell Job Centre had come about from an initiative Motiv-8 had put forward to the Job Centre whereby an individual attends a programme that included and offered them the opportunity to gain qualifications in Customer Service, First Aid and Food Safety. This new employment routeway satisfied the Job Centre SWAP initiative and the programme was designed to include some work experience and a guaranteed interview.

At around the same time St Austell Job Centre had been approached by Aldi in St Austell who were looking for potential applicants and they were really impressed with this initiative.

Owen signed up to the programme and he duly attended the course every day. The coach then set about helping him to get his life back on track to enable him to get back into work. This began with ordering and purchasing him a new birth certificate and then working with him on employability skills and preparing Owen to attend an interview at Aldi. Owen was interested in a new role at Aldi and his interest was further enhanced after a member of the team from Aldi spent an hour with all the programme participants explaining about the company’s history and what they look for in an applicant.

We then went on to help him to create a quality CV unique to him, and targeted at the role in Aldi, we practised mock interviews and covered potential interview questions, to the point where Owen was confident in his ability to answer any interview questions. However, he had no suitable interview clothes.

The Motiv-8 U programme is funded by the European Social Fund and we were able to utilise these funds to purchase Owen a completely new interview outfit. This was a massive boost to Owen’s confidence and he said he felt ‘over the moon’. He was now ready, confident and fully prepared to do the interview and very hopeful that he would be successful in getting the job.

The outcome

Owen attended the necessary work experience and an interview and was complimented by the Aldi management and staff on his smart appearance. He impressed the area manager and the branch manager of Aldi in his interview and he was offered the job.

He also successfully passed the Level 3 First Aid, the Level 2 Food Safety and the Level 2 Customer Service.

Owen is now very happily working at Aldi and very grateful for the support he was given.

If you want to find out more then please get in touch.