Before you join the service, you’ll be invited to a welcome session, giving you the opportunity to find out more about Fair Start Scotland, what to expect, the type of support available and what is involved. This is your chance to ask questions to make sure the service is right for you and meets your expectations.

 

If you like what you hear then we’ll need to do some check to make sure you are eligible for the service.

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What to expect when you join the service

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When you join the service, you’ll be introduced to your adviser who will work with you throughout your journey. We’ve got a professional team of health and employability experts who you will meet you along the way. They will be able to give you the right support to help you achieve your goal.  

 

How you access the service and the type of support you need will vary depending on your needs and circumstances - your adviser will work through this with you.

 

We can offer support through different methods such as:

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face to face​         phone call          video calls           virtual sessions         online learning               signposting to                                                                                                                                   and resource              specialist providers       

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To help us to provide a good quality service tailored to your needs, your adviser will ask you some straightforward questions using our assessment tool to help us understand:

 

• your current situation

• what you want to achieve

• what motivates / drives you

• your aspirations and goals

• your interests, skills and abilities

• your strengths

• what health and wellbeing support you may need

• your work history

 

All of this information will be used to create your very own personalised action plan - you will continually review and update your action plan with your adviser to see how you are doing.

 

Once you join the service, you will get support to:

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• identify what your job goals and career aspirations are

• improve your employability skills 

• identify any specialist provision you might need such as ICT skills, literacy and numeracy 

• improve your health and wellbeing 

• find a job to meet your needs whether this is working for a company or self-employment route 

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Finding a job that’s right for you

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We work with lots of employers across different work areas, and we’ll always be your biggest advocate. We’ll help you find jobs through advertised vacancies posted on websites and social media, however, we will also help you tap into the hidden job market – the jobs that don’t get advertised!

Find out how we’ll help you seek a job that’s right for you.

 

If you don’t feel ready for work, we can look at getting you some work experience via work placements, work trials and / or sector-specific training to give you the confidence to take the next step. And if you‘re worried about how a job may affect you financially then we can do a better-off calculation based on you getting full or part-time hours and we’ll talk you through the results to give you peace of mind.

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When you’re in work

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Once you’re in work, our support doesn’t stop there.

 

We will work with your employer to look at the job offer as well as the place you’ll be working to make sure you have all the right support in place to put you ease.

 

We will work with you to develop an in-work support plan to make sure you get the right support while you’re in work - this may be practical or health and wellbeing support. We’ll keep in touch with you on a weekly basis for the first 13 weeks to make sure everything is okay and then fortnightly for the next 13 weeks. If you have any issues while you’re in work, please tell us and we can offer you information, advice and guidance to support you.

 

We know that things don’t always work out the way they were planned, so if you have any difficulties with the job that can’t be resolved we will help you look for something more suitable. All we ask is that you let us know and we will do our best to support you in whatever way we can.

 

Once you leave the service, you will be given your very own ‘leavers plan’ to show you far you come since joining Fair Start Scotland and what you’ve achieved along the way.

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