Penny's Testamonial

I would like to thank Women and Work for all the courses they provide. I have been on 3 of the courses offered by the group and have successfully completed the Return to Paid Work course, the IBT2 course and the Interpersonal Skills course.

I found the Return to Paid Work course the most useful. Doing the course made me realise just how many skills I had developed as a homemaker, and how many of those skills are transferable to the workplace.

Having completed the Return to Paid Work course, I set about looking for work. Within two weeks of beginning my search I had applied for two jobs which I felt were within my range of capability although I did not necessarily have the relevant experience.

If I had not been to Women and Work's Return to Paid Work course, I would never have applied for either job, and especially not the Receptionist job, as I would never have thought that it was a job I could do. Before, I would have looked at the advert and dismissed it as something I was unqualified for.

I was called to interview for both jobs, one was as a science technician in a school, which I went for as it was within school hours so it would suit my needs. The other job, which was not quite within school hours but was the type of job I actually wanted to do (Receptionist) so decided that I could work round the childcare issues.

I was offered the job as receptionist DESPITE not having any experience.

It was partly due to the invaluable help and assistance given during the course to write a good C.V. and the confidence boosting work that the staff do during the course which enabled me to feel confident enough to apply for these posts.

Doing the other courses has led me on to other training and they have also been invaluable to me. Not to mention that they were fun to do and I met new people and made new friends, which is not always easy to do in a big city like Milton Keynes when you have young children. The crèche facility is something I did not use personally, but can see the value of it to others.