Meesha worked for Sainsbury’s as a trainer for 10 years before being made redundant. She then went on to work at a school doing admin work, again being made redundant, this then resulted in her being unemployed for 18 months. During this time Meesha attended various Family learning courses with her child and it was at one of the library sessions that she saw a flyer advertising courses at Redbridge Institute.
Meesha attended the Employability Hub at Gearies as she wanted to join some classes to increase her skills set, but she couldn’t afford to pay for them, and also to get advice on what would be the best jobs to apply for. Meesha said she got some excellent advice from Angela Vangelder with Angela advising her to use her skills in Customer Service to look for roles away from retail as the job she had previously done was not widely available any more. She also advised her to go to the Job Centre for advice on how to get funding for the courses she wanted to do – Bookkeeping and Sage – and as a result of visiting the Job Centre she was able to use her NI credits to allow her to get free courses. This resulted in Meesha enrolling onto Bookkeeping and Sage Level 1 with Pratibha and engaging with Work Redbridge to source support with other training – Customer Service skills, Conflict Management & Equality & Diversity; all skills that she already had, but had never had an actual certificate to show that she had the skills and understanding in these areas.
Meesha was really worried about starting back in education and thought that people would think she was too old and deem her lazy and stupid for not having found a job in 18 months but she was pleasantly surprised on her first day. Meesha said that Pratibha made everyone feel so welcome to the class and that she felt really comfortable in the learning environment and would totally recommend us to anyone. She thoroughly enjoyed her courses and gained skills in a new sector.
Meesha enjoyed her learning at Redbridge Institute so much and especially being taught by Pratibha. She said that as a result of doing these courses she had the confidence to apply for different roles and had had two interviews with Redbridge Council where she secured a role as a full time Customer Service Administrative Officer in the housing department. She is currently enjoying being a university student and has passed her first term.