Stepping into the employability sector

Lee was left feeling let down and made the decision to find a fulfilling job that would still give him the time he needed to share his passion.

Why Lee joined Fair Start Scotland?

Lee had been working in a call centre after moving to Scotland from Barcelona. The role had flexible shift patterns which meant Lee could pursue his dream of teaching dance in his free time.

Lee wanted to organise evening dance classes, however, his employer changed his schedule at very short notice, which meant that all of his shifts would move into the evenings.

Lee was devastated as he felt he wouldn’t be able to fulfil his dream of teaching. He also had to cancel numerous international dance holidays that had been scheduled to fit in with his new work structure. He was forced to cancel all of his bookings resulting in him losing a secondary income, he felt let down and disappointed by his employer. With this in mind, Lee took the decision to leave his current role and look for a job to suit his lifestyle.

How Fair Start Scotland helped?

Key worker Susannah, from The Lennox Partnership had worked with Lee before and was aware that he had become unemployed with no job prospects. She made him aware of the Fair Start Scotland service and how they can support him.

Lee had a lot of experience in customer service and had many transferable skills from his previous role, which was a good foundation for Susannah to create a strong CV for him. He wanted to find a job that would offer him stability.

Susannah was previously an administrator for The Lennox Partnership, she had recently been promoted to a key worker so she was aware there was an admin post available. She felt Lee would be a great fit as he had a passion for teaching and helping people. He was excited and eager to pursue this possibility and applied for the role, in which he was offered an interview.

Getting the job

Susannah helped Lee prepare for the interview so that he felt confident in answering the questions. His interview went extremely well however, he was not successful as the preferred candidate had slightly more experience. Not long after getting the news, Lee was contacted by The Lennox Partnership offering him the role, as the other candidate was unable to confirm the job offer. He immediately accepted and was looking forward to joining the team. Unfortunately, he was appointed into the role just as the national lockdown was announced which meant Lee could not work in the office so the job was put on hold for the time being.

In the interim, Susannah secured Lee a temporary job at Tesco just until he could start his administration role. The In-Work Support team kept in touch with him regularly reassure him.

In October 2020, Lee started at The Lennox Partnership as an administrator and he has been enjoying it immensely. Lee said:

“I am now working full-time at The Lennox Partnership dealing with social media, referrals, welcome sessions and general admin duties. Unfortunately, I was unable to dance in the evenings due to the COVID-19 restrictions however I now deliver live classes on Facebook several times a week.

Life is what you make it, I am glad to be working and now I get to help others. I try to stay positive in every situation, so I embraced the change. My daily top tip is to put your positive pants on and I live by it.”