When Participant B. referred himself to the project, he was working full time hours on a low income and was keen to start self-employment in fitness, which was something he took a real enjoyment from. Due to the pressures of a low income and supporting his family, Participant B was unsure how to take the next step towards his goal, so sought the support of Communities for Work + who provided him with clear direction and avenues of funding he could consider. Participant B. is now studying for his Level 3 Personal Trainer qualification whilst maintaining his full time hours, and is on course to start his self-employment journey in something he has always been passionate about.
Participant B. self-referred to the Communities for Work Plus Scheme, part of the Working Denbighshire Service after reading an advert on social media which advertised employment bursaries for people in work between the ages of 16-35 years of age.
Participant B. was interested in applying for an Employment Bursary, which supports people to move forward within their current job role and/or support them to change job role via funding for training.
Participant B. was currently working full time at 37 hours per week as a delivery driver earning £15,500 per year. He wanted to progress and begin a new career as a personal trainer.
Participant B. had always been interested and active within the leisure/sporting industry in his own personal spare time but wanted this to be his main career as he enjoyed it so much. He didn’t however have the funds himself to provide the finance for the online level 3 Personal Training Course.
Participant B. lived in the Denbighshire area and met the criteria for the employment bursary scheme. He wanted to apply for the bursary and was eager to begin working with his employment mentor in order to make the right changes in his life and order for his general wellbeing to improve for him and his family.
Participant B. believed his barriers into progressing into the career he wanted were finance and time due to having to keep working full time.
He attended an appointment with his employment mentor where together they completed a work star assessment to identify his barriers so they could build a good strong case for obtaining the employment bursary.
The Work Star is a visual assessment tool which highlighted the areas of intervention that he needed to be looking at in order to achieve his goals of becoming a personal trainer.
This key appointment revealed that it was his ‘job skills and experience’ which needed attention – this now meant we could move forward in applying for the bursary to develop Participant B’s skills.
Participant B. continued to work in partnership with his Employment Mentor to research and focus on online personal trainer courses and obtain quotations of courses which matched his requirements. He met with his mentor once/twice a week.
Participant B. completed a new C.V and together with support gathered the right evidence from 3 course providers relating to the personal trainer course he wanted. His employment mentor also wrote a supporting statement which supported his application.
These documents were all then sent over to the Denbighshire County Council’s Economic & Business Development Officer. The employment bursary for Participant B. was approved and he now looks forward to studying his online personal trainer course, he has until 30th Sept 2020 to complete it. Once completed he has to evidence this by way of a certificate within 28 days of completion to Denbighshire County Council.
Following all of the Community for work plus’s support Participant B. is currently studying hard whilst balancing study alongside his full time job until he qualifies as a Level 3 Personal Trainer. Once qualified in the near future he hopes to become self-employed and run his own fitness business.
Participant B. began his journey with the Communities for Work Plus Project at the start of January 2020 and had his bursary offer in order to re-train by the end of February 2020!
The importance of partnership working came in very well throughout Participant B.’s support period. Utilising the knowledge and availability of the Economic Business Development team’s Young Person’s Employment Bursary and having regular meetings with Participant B. provided an excellent foundation to assist Participant B’s career progression.