Upon finishing school in May 2011, Lauren, 16, from Derby, knew she wanted to pursue the path to employment. After applying for several vacancies (including an Apprenticeship advertised by Care Training East Midlands (CTEM), for which she was unsuccessful) she was stuck with what to do and realised she needed some extra support.

CTEM got in touch with Lauren regarding her application. Once talking Lauren through her options and how CTEM can help her, she decided to come along to ignite.

Through ignite, Lauren received support from ignite advisers Bruce, Gemma and Jane at CTEM’s Derby centre. Bruce helped Lauren with Literacy and numeracy tuition, whilst Gemma and Jane worked with Lauren to apply for jobs and develop her employability skills.

“I struggled at school with my Maths and English, so the training from Bruce helped me a lot. I have worked hard and even took work home with me. If I got stuck, Bruce would go through it all again. I was determined to improve my grades.”

“My job searching and interview practise with Gemma also helped. We rehearsed what to say so when I went for my interview I felt really confident and comfortable. Practise definitely helped as I ended up getting the job!”

Lauren starts a business administration role with a local surveying company in the coming weeks. In the mean time, whilst waiting to start, Lauren is still having tuition with Bruce to continue improve her Literacy and numeracy grades.

“I would recommend CTEM to anyone; a lot of my friends are on ignite already. The staff at CTEM make you feel very welcome and are really helpful. I have become a lot more confident and outgoing through Ignite. Thank you to everyone who has helped me!”

Advice Lauren gives to fellow igniters is: “Study hard. Don’t let anything get you down; they are here to help you, like they helped me!”

If you would like to find out more on how ignite can help you (or to refer a young person to ignite) please call 0115 959 9544.