Starting work in the UK
A helping hand to start work in the UK
Migena Memishag, 25, was referred to the Restart Scheme in Morden, after moving to the UK from Albania. She had spent her life raising her children and had never worked before.
In Morden, Maximus is working with our partner, Reed in Partnership, and with their help, Migena was supported on her journey back into work.
Employment Advisor, Joshua Amoako, realised that Migena had several barriers that she needed to overcome in order to help her find sustainable employment.
One of Migena’s main barriers was her level of spoken English. It was clear she would need to improve both her ability and confidence in order to achieve the roles she desired.
She was referred to Merton College for English Language lessons and gradually, week by week, her communication skills improved. She was able to accurately articulate her thoughts and ideas to Joshua, which meant they were able to build a great relationship.
Migena was initially unclear on what her transferable skills were, however, Joshua was on hand to reassure her that the skills she had acquired whilst raising her children would perfectly compliment a role in the childcare sector.
She then attended a transferable skills induction day to find out more about potential employment pathways and learnt that she needed to gain a childcare qualification to improve her chances of success. With Joshua’s help, they worked together to ensure she gained this Childcare level 1 qualification through Merton College.
Having never worked before, Migena did not have a professional CV so attended a Reed in Partnership Reboot CV session, where she was taught how to showcase her skills to attract potential employers.
With her English skills now at a conversational level, Migena and Joshua began working on interview skills to build her confidence. Now she was prepared with a professional CV and the necessary qualifications, Migena was ready to find work.
Joshua described: “We got to the point where everything was in place and Migena was ready to start attending interviews. It was amazing to see how far she had come from having limited English to now being able to converse fluently in an interview.”
In October, she attended an interview with a local nursery, and they were so impressed that she was offered an immediate position and began working within the next few days.
After five months of support from the Restart Scheme, Migena described the feeling of being offered her first role: “At first, I was nervous starting a new role as I had never worked in the UK before. However, with Joshua’s support and encouragement, I have found that I was well prepared to start at the nursery. I cannot thank Joshua enough!”
