I feel like a whole new person!

Mark found support through the help of two Twining Enterprise Employment Specialists – Madalina and Cliff – who both worked at his speed, listened to him explain his situation and concerns, and patiently took what he said and helped work with him to make progress.  We asked Mark how he felt about the service he had received from Twining Enterprise…

Years ago, just before I started with Twining Enterprise, it seemed almost impossible to even imagine finding a job that I could manage, let alone one that I could choose on my own terms.  I had been a part of many programmes set up to help people such as me find a job as well, but I rarely got interviews or even sent out applications.  But with the first few steps with Twining things were immediately different.  Cliff and Madalina worked at my speed, listening to me explain my situation and apprehensions, and patiently took what I said and helped work with me to finally make progress.

They first explained to me the range of options I had.  They helped me see that despite what I saw as very limited work experience, I had a great deal to offer potential employers, understanding that I had problems with self-esteem and depression and that I had to fight my natural urge to belittle my accomplishments.  They gently walked me through my past work and helped me re-evaluate it in a way that not only helped my emotional state but also provided me with new tools to help promote myself to new job prospects.

My CV was completely revamped, restructured and made to better reflect what I had to offer in terms of employment.  In the past when people helped me with CV’s they often simply rewrote it for me or pointed me online to example CV’s for me to copy, but Twining showed me how to write a CV so that I could continuously improve on my own.  They also helped me with my difficulty writing in the style of professional CVs, that I found very challenging and even emotionally painful and frustrating.  But their patience saw me through it and allowed me to more comfortably write in a business-like style.

Twining Enterprise also adjusted their schedule to help fit my own.  Support was frequent and consistent, with increased appointments when I needed when applying for a job with sessions gradually decreasing as I became more independent.  Right now, I’m working as a librarian, a job I hadn’t even thought I could do at the start of the programme, and making significant inroads to advancement within the career.  And they continued to provide support for me helping with adapting to the new work environment.

I feel like a whole new person from the man I was when Twining first approached me.  I couldn’t have made this progress without them, and I’m immeasurably grateful to Madalina and Cliff for helping me restart my life.