Jasmine builds a bridge to success

I have suffered with Mental Health issues for years now and always worried this would affect me having a job. I graduated university in November 2020 after having done a master’s degree I had no idea how much my mental health impacted my ability to get a job and my confidence.

Additionally, graduating during the middle of a pandemic only increased my anxieties regarding job prospects.  I was on a yearlong waitlist for therapy and asked my community mental health team for some support to get me through the time whilst I was waiting, they referred me to Twining Enterprise.

I was contacted by an Employment Specialist, Madalina, and she was amazing, I couldn’t have asked for a better or more supportive employment specialist.

She helped me with job applications, helped me manage my anxiety when it came to interviews - we did so many mock interviews. She helped me in my search for, and requests for, reasonable adjustments for interviews and assessments. She was someone I would go to for reassurance and was someone I could confide in when I was feeling down, got a rejection or just needed some additional support. She was so supportive and would always offer me advice or tips and techniques to help me with both my mental health and my job applications and interviews.

After having a number of interviews followed by a number of rejections, I was offered an interview for the Civil Service.

This included a presentation element, in which I had to research, create and present a presentation. I was extremely nervous and knew nothing about the topic, so I conducted some research and started the initial production of the presentation but still felt it was not good enough and was lacking something. Madalina suggested I do a mock presentation with her over video call to practice, so she could give me some tips or advice and help boost my confidence. She made some excellent suggestions, including using my old notes from my time at university to try and find some more information to strengthen my presentation. This amazing feedback enabled me to go and perfect my presentation and gave me the confidence to excel in my presentation and my interview.

After 5 months of rejections and so much hard work, I received a phone call a week after the presentation and interview and was offered the job. I was so happy to finally have received some good news after the months of effort I had put into my job search. I would not have been able to do any of this without the help of Madalina.

I am so grateful to her and so happy that she put such an amazing effort to help me in my job search. My mental health and low confidence was my biggest barrier to entry into the workplace as I struggled so much with interviews, Madalina helped me create a bridge over that barrier.

I would like to thank Twining Enterprise and Madalina for helping me so much and changing my life.

Jasmine