Dawn had a successful career as a teaching assistant at her local primary school for a number of years. At the time being a teaching assistant suited her lifestyle as she had young children. When Dawn’s youngest child finished school at 16, Dawn felt that she needed a change. Dawn no longer had to worry about working around school holidays and term times.

Dawn attended the Get a Better Jobs Day at the Trent FM Arena in October 2009. Dawn spoke to Care Training about the Support & Training & Jobs Programme (now replaced by the Young Person's Guarentee) that allowed people to update their skills, as well as gain new ones. Dawn felt that she needed to retrain and improve her skills to get back into a career where she felt excited to go to work everyday.  

Jessica Grice, Dawn’s adviser at Care Training described her as “very focused and committed to the training and was a pleasure to support on her journey to a new career”. Employability skills are an integral part of the Support & Training & Jobs Programme. Dawn felt that the training helped to give her confidence and prepare her for job interviews. “I realised that life experience and the amount of transferable skills that I had from working as a teaching assistant were relevant when applying for jobs. Fantastic points were raised that I would not have thought of before.”

The Business Administration vocational training allowed Dawn to improve on the knowledge that she had from past experience. Dawn felt that the lessons were well structured, informative and helpful.

The training allowed Dawn to be assured that this was the right career path and realise her potential. Dawn never felt like she had to attend Care Training, but that she wanted to attend both the vocational and employability training.

Dawn says, “People at all different learning levels and experiences can achieve success at Care Training. Some people in my group were less confident when they first started but now we all help to support each other and you can see their confidence grow”.

Dawn felt that Care Training is not intimidating to learners, in fact the tutors and advisers are very supportive and welcoming to every person that walks through the door.

Dawn has now started volunteering part-time at Care Training’s head office in Nottingham as part of the Administration Team. She is feeling very excited and positive about her future.  

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