Made redundant last autumn Gavin Wesson, a father-of-three from Top Valley, Nottingham, had his confidence shattered as he had never been out of work before.

Being dyslexic and needing to find a job in these tough times, Gavin’s self-esteem was hit again when he failed a written entrance test to become a bus driver for Nottingham City Transport.

Gavin’s luck then changed when he was referred to a European Social Fund (ESF) project, Skills for Jobs Progression to Customer Service (now replaced by Routes into Work for Customer Service), run by Care Training East Midlands. His confidence was boosted by job search tips, CV writing and one-to-one advice. Gavin explains, “When my lorry driving work ended, I was suddenly struggling to financially support my young family which was something I wasn’t use to.

"All my previous jobs had been gained by word of mouth, so I have never had to go for a formal interview before, never mind an entrance test. I was completely out of my comfort zone. The support I got from Care Training, and my adviser Jess, was brilliant and gave me the confidence to try again for the bus driver job.”

Gavin got the chance to re-take his entrance test and achieved the second highest pass rate of the day. He started his training in June and is due to finish mid August.

“The second time round I was far more confident and I did the test on coloured paper which may sound a bit odd but for me, it helped the words stand out and this made all the difference.”

His adviser Jess Grice said, “We were all delighted when Gavin passed the entrance test literally with flying colours - to get a permanent driver job. When I first met Gavin he was obviously concerned by his redundancy and the current job market. We assessed his skills and enrolled him onto an Adult Literacy course and Customer Service training programme, to further help his bus driver application.

"We will also continue to support Gavin over the next few months. He’s planning to enrol onto the NVQ Level 2 in Passenger Carrying Vehicle Driving, via Train to Gain, to further boost his skills and qualifications.”

Gavin added, “The training was great, I really enjoyed being able to practice my customer service skills with people in a similar position to me.”

Gavin's success story is also published in the August 2009 edition of the ESF in the East Midlands newsletter.

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