Employment First

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Hania's Story

Hania (not real name) had been out of work for over 6 years. A single mother with a young  daughter, she was on benefits and struggling to pay the mortgage on the house she had bought when she was married. Although her benefits covered her basic mortgage payments and council tax she had very little to survive on.
Hania felt trapped because if she started work, the cost of her mortgage and council tax would be too much for her. At the same time, her childcare responsibilities meant she needed to find a job that was flexible but also paid enough to cover her expenses. She didn’t believe this would ever be possible.
Hania came to see Kibria at the Wodeham Community Centre and explained her predicament. Kibria listened and created a detailed record for Hania, detailing her skills, her work experience and her interests. He also noted her requirements for work and together they created an action plan of how to achieve this.
Firstly, Kibria carried out a Better Off Calculation with Hania, this is a computerised tool that shows how work and benefits can be combined to make a person better off financially by working. Kibria proved to Hania that with the right job, she would receive Working Tax Credits that would boost her income, her council tax bill would also be reduced. Hania was surprised and delighted by this – and it motivated her to increase her efforts to find work.
Kibria then helped Hania to identify her strengths, they realised that Hania had a gift for care and social work, she always helped people in her community. Kibria introduced her to a part-time care work training programme which Hania signed up for and completed within 4 weeks. With the training in hand, they applied for care work jobs every week and within a month Hania had secured a part time job.
The job changed Hania’s life, the hours allowed her to work around her daughter’s school routine and the pay and benefits meant she could pay her mortgage and have a money left to spend on her family.
Today Hania is very proud because she has even started to make payments towards reducing her mortgage, which is something she didn’t think was possible.

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Hania (not real name) had been out of work for over 6 years. A single mother with a young  daughter, she was on benefits and struggling to pay the mortgage on the house she had bought when she was married.Learn More

Summi had been out of work for three years. After getting married and having a baby, her husband had been against the idea of her working – so she left her job. Unfortunately, her marriage broke down in this time and she found herself alone in an unthinkable situation. Learn More

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Summi’s Story

Summi had been out of work for three years. After getting married and having a baby, her husband had been against the idea of her working – so she left her job. Unfortunately, her marriage broke down in this time and she found herself alone in an unthinkable situation.

As a lone parent from a Bangladeshi family, she found it difficult to convince her family that going back to work was a good idea. Her mum was available to look after her child but she felt it was improper to ask her to do so.

Summi read about Employment First in one of our newsletters distributed at local youth clubs, women’s centres  and by our local housing partners. She approached her advisor at the Jagonari Women’s Centre, who in turn referred her to Employment First.

The EF advisor supported Summi with advice, motivation, training and practical support. Initially, we sat down with Summi and closely analysed the barriers to work she faced. Summi’s biggest obstacle was her mindset – that asking anyone to look after her child was wrong despite her need to work. We encouraged Summi to find solutions to her childcare situation and looked for jobs that fitted around her commitments.

Her consultant created a new CV, highlighting her work and voluntary experiences and teaching her to see the employer-relevant aspects to her activities in the last few years. For example, Summi felt she had done no work for 3 years, and that period was a blank on her CV. Her consultant advised her that looking after her child, arranging care and benefits for her parents were all good examples of practical skills we could highlight on her CV.

Through this principal we also tailored Summi’s interview training, encouraging her to speak about her real experiences to employers and the real world skills these helped her gain.

Her Employment Mentor also arranged a work placement for Summi at the office of a local insurance company. The employer was fully aware of Summi’s situation and the work placement was kept flexible to support her needs.

In this time, she got to know the team and began getting used to the routine of working life again. We also felt that this would allow Summi to to demonstrate to herself and her family that she could manage a work life without disadvantaging her child.

Following her work placement, the employer was so pleased with Summi’s ability to fit in with their team they offered her a paid part time role. Summi also found that with her child now in nursery, her mother was better able to mind her during work days. Today Summi says she feels she has come out of dark hole that she never could see a way out of.

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