Chris Vincent had spent a number of years working at Working Links to support people into employment.
In August 2011 when the Government’s Flexible New Deal contract came to an end, Chris made redundant.
Chris signed on at his local Job Centre, which seemed unreal as for a long time it had been his job to place people into employment. Chris was feeling demoralised and extremely worried as to what the future would hold for him and his family. He was coming up to 61 years of age and thought his chances of finding employment were considerably reduced.
Chris was desperately unhappy being in this position and very quickly found that he was becoming isolated and losing contact with previous work colleagues. He contacted Five Lamps to see if he could put his skills and many years of experience to good use as a volunteer. Chris was aware of the excellent work the organisation carried out having referred customers many times for advice and guidance from their specialist teams.
Chris was invited to a meeting with Mark Thompson Five Lamps’ Employability Manager and after a series of informal discussions Chris was invited to assist Jane Simpson, Five Lamps’ Intensive Support Worker with her weekly ‘work club’ based in Thornaby. Chris jumped at this opportunity; it was a way to help people back into work and continue to network. He was also signed up to Five Lamps’ Communities Fund project, where he was provided with support in finding paid employment.
Chris really enjoyed his time volunteering and really never looked back, his confidence grew; he was helping people and feeling part of a valuable team.
However, he found searching for full time work difficult and faced several rejections over the next few months. Mark informed Chris of a job vacancy as a Family Support Worker for The Wise Group. After several months of worry and uncertainly he secured an interview and on Christmas Eve, his birthday, he was told he had been successful. He started work on the 6th January 2012.
Five Lamps have played a very important part in helping Chris back into work. Mark said
“Chris’ story shows how important volunteering can be especially if you are unemployed, at a loss as to how to improve your job prospects and update your skills. It gives other mature unemployed people hope that even at the age of 61 you can still secure employment. Without Five Lamp`s excellent advice and guidance Chris may still be facing financial uncertainty and moving towards being another sad statistic of the long term unemployed. Today Chris’ future is bright”
Chris said
“Without the support of Five Lamp and in particular Mark Thompson, Jane Simpson and Karen O’Hara, I would still be stuck in the doldrums that unemployment can create. I was given the opportunity to keep my skills and my contacts, as well as my mind, active and current. That is without doubt the main factor in my being successful in my job search”