Help to find the perfect job for me!
After 10 months of continued job searching with not one single response, Sophie began to feel incredibly down and her mental health deteriorated, which impacted on her whole family. She sought help from NHS Talking Therapies who recommended Twining Enterprise and she met Peter, her dedicated Employment Specialist. Peter helped Sophie to identify job opportunities that suited her skillset and suddenly she found herself in a job she loves! Her mental health is better, and she is enjoying life again. Here, Sophie tells us her full story in her own words…
After staying at home to look after my daughters for 10 years I decided to go back to university to do my Masters. I finished this at the end of 2022 and was initially filled with hope about starting my career again. However, after 10 months of solidly looking for work I still hadn’t heard anything back from any of the jobs I had applied for. There had literally been no communication – no shortlisting, no interviews, nothing at all.
Because of the job-hunting situation my mental health really deteriorated. I was in a really bad place. It was affecting my family and affecting my marriage. I applied to NHS Talking Therapies and explained my situation and they thought Twining Enterprise might be a good service to support me back into employment.
When I arrived at my first meeting with my Twining Employment Specialist, Peter, I was severely lacking in motivation and confidence, and felt completely disheartened about myself and the process of job searching.
The first thing Peter did when I arrived was just work on my confidence. After 10 months of job searching without any positive response, I had just started applying for entry level roles. I was literally just looking for anything at all. However, even when I had lowered my expectations in this way, the response I was getting still wasn’t positive. So, I really wasn’t in a good place.
I found just the process of having to get ready to see Peter was good. I wasn’t used to talking to people after being at home for so long and experiencing such a decline in my confidence. Regularly seeing and talking to Peter helped me to slowly build up my confidence again. Our appointments injected some structure and routine into my day.
During those first few appointments Peter asked me about where my difficulties were and when he found out he was hopeful he could help me - and this gave me hope again. He gave me practical help on how to actually look for the right job, how to prepare for the job itself and the job applications and interviews.
Peter would help me to identify what was, and wasn’t, a realistic role for me. He was skilled at helping me to find the right jobs… and because I started applying for jobs better suited to my skillset… I started getting responses back almost straight away! After 10 months of job searching on my own and hearing nothing – I was suddenly getting replies back, and it felt great! Peter really listened to my needs; he is an amazing listener and I felt he took the time to get to know me, so he could find the right job opportunities for me.
Then one day Peter found what looked like the perfect job for me. At first, I just set myself the goal of getting an interview – that’s all. Peter and I went through the job description methodically section by section and he helped me to think about what to say for each part. He then helped me to think about how I would answer the interview questions. At this stage, I still had the goal of just getting an interview…
Then I applied – and I got an interview!! During the interview my confidence was back up. Without the support and help of Peter and Twining Enterprise it would have been different – I would not have been so confident. If I’d had the interview four months before I don’t think I would have got it, as I had no one to guide me through the interview. But this time I had Peter.
During the interview the employer spent a lot of time with me – took time to show me around – and this gave me hope. It felt like a real possibility to get the job. And the job was so right for me – where Peter had helped to me to find that perfect opportunity – that suited my skills and experience so well.
Then I got the call from them saying I’d got the job – and it felt amazing! My children cried. My parents had been worried and my kids were worried – and it had really impacted on my marriage too. Everyone around me wanted me to have a job – including me - but it wasn’t easy to solve until I reached out and got the help from Twining and Peter.
Now I have started my new job, my mental health is absolutely fine again. I’m back to being me. It was not having a job that had made my mental health decline in that way. I’d even started thinking about leaving London! But thankfully my mental health is better again now. I feel valued and appreciated in my new role and – with Peter’s help - I’m so happy to have found the perfect job for me!
