Sarah was made redundant from her job of seven years due to Covid-19. She contacted the National Careers Service for support as she was struggling to find suitable vacancies within her sector and had lost confidence and self-belief.

She says:

I had been made redundant from furlough so never returned to my job. This was extremely hard and meant that I had been at home for 6 months. I had lost confidence and felt quite low.

Sarah had a telephone session with an adviser which included a thorough exploration of her transferable skills, previous experience and future direction. Together they addressed barriers, including reduced opportunity in her sector due to Covid-19, and explored how to use her skills in a new environment.

She had been applying for positions but had not been successful. The adviser reviewed her CV and gave advice on profiling, highlighting relevant skills, experience and achievement. She also drew up an action plan detailing their discussion.

This call was a ‘light bulb’ moment for me in terms of recognising my transferable skills and how I should showcase these on my CV. I amended my CV as per the suggestions the adviser made and from this point, I started to be more successful in getting interviews for jobs.

The advice and guidance gave Sarah greater confidence and a positive approach to job searching. She started applying for vacancies in different sectors and was successful in securing a job:

The role is outside of the sector I have spent 20+ years working in, but it does use my transferable skills. I have now been in my role for nearly two months and I am really enjoying the training and new challenges.

Sarah says about the support she received:

The adviser I spoke to was amazing – kind, professional and helped me to focus on the positives and future opportunities.

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