Lizi came to Care Training with the long term goal of a career in business administration. After being a full time mum for a number of years she felt she needed to gain new qualifications and update her skills to guide her on her way to a new career. What appealed to Lizi about Care Training was the flexibility; Lizi was able to fit training in with her busy life as a mother of three.

Lizi’s first aim was to achieve a qualification in Literacy and Numeracy Level 2 (GCSE equivalent Grade A-C). The convenience of learndirect meant Lizi completed the majority of the practice testing at home online and only had to visit the centre to take her exams.

Feeling more confident in her ability to return to work, Care Training advised Lizi that she was eligible for the Business Administration New Deal for Lone Parent’s Programme (now replaced by Routes into Work) in June 2009. Through this programme, Lizi completed short courses in First Aid and Health & Safety to aid her employability and give her something else to add to her CV.

The biggest challenge Lizi felt she was facing was that she had very little experience in a work environment. Lizi volunteered at Care Training’s learndirect Centre so that she could complete her NVQ in Business & Administration Level 2.

This gave her an opportunity to develop her administration skills as well as giving her the experience in that role. Once Lizi had completed her NVQ, she continued to volunteer at learndirect as she acknowledged that it would all serve to improve her skills and hopefully impress potential employers.

Completing what felt like “hundreds of applications”, and attending a number of interviews, Lizi continued to volunteer at Care Training. She remained motivated and benefited from continued support from the employability advisers at Care Training. Lizi chased feedback from her interviews to improve her interview technique and job applications.

Lizi applied for the vacancy of Receptionist/Administrator at Care Training. Lizi was successful at the interview and is happily now in full time employment. She says that the journey that she has had to gain full time employment has been tough but the people who have supported her have been “brilliant”.

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