BEING ASPIRATIONAL

Future Finders students never stop – they work hard all week on placement then continue working hard in College.

For myself, Maria and Mike, although the focus on Future Finders is about securing the job, it can be about improving independence, to enable the students to move on, this can be anything from making sure they take responsibility for their own belongings, making their own dinners, making sure they arrive at college on time every day, being left for short to longer periods at placements, to travelling independently;…

…which is what has been happening today (Friday).

Mike, one of our Future Finders Job Coaches, has been completing some route training with one of our students to promote their independence in getting to and from placement on their own, to show their commitment to their role at placement. Doing things like this can be the difference between gaining paid employment and not – This is why we do what we do!

This week’s ‘Day in the Life of…’ comes from our very own Danielle.

Danielle spent her first term at the Clean Plate Café, where with Collette and the team, she thrived. So a quick thank you to Collette and the team from me – I will be in soon for a Salt and Pepper Steak Sandwich.

Danielle’s skills were improved and her confidence soared!

How do I know this?

When Danielle was asked if she would like to try something a little different this term, she jumped at the chance. She listed all the things that she would be able to work on by moving placements and how what she had already learnt around customer service, could be used in her next job…

…So, fast forward and here we are, week 3 of Danielle being a placement at Age UK (Pilsworth) with a wonderful team, who are supportive of Danielle, who can see her capabilities and who are pushing her to achieve more and more.

So, with the help of myself and Maria (our work placement coordinator and job coach), we get Danielle to placement on a daily basis. Before I hand over to Danielle to give you more of an insight in to her daily routine, this is just a quick thank you to Jade, the shop manager, her staff and the rest of the volunteers, who have given our students the support and the opportunity.

On a side note to this, both myself and Maria are looking forward to completing our training with Age UK to ensure we meet all of their training and work standards – We’ll share our certificates with you in our blog when we have completed them. So, Danielle, its over to you…

A day in the life of Danielle – Age UK – Bury.

Danielle has had a great start at the charity shop and she has learned many new skills in their first few weeks. Here is how her day goes…

“I arrive at the shop at 10am and hang up our coats and put away our bags. We then check in with the manager and discuss what jobs need doing first, this is usually sorting through the bags to get the stock moving and get items out onto the shop floor. The next step is to price items which is done with a sticker for books, CDs, toys and ornaments and a tag for all the clothes which are attached to the clothes with a tagging gun which I have learned to use safely over the past couple of weeks and with help from my job coach I have now mastered.

We check the items to make sure they are clean and nothing is broken, check the CDs to make sure they are not scratched and are in their boxes, check toys are clean, not broken and have the CE mark on them for safety standards.

I have a lunch break at 12pm for half an hour and I bring my own lunch with me but there are lots of shops around us so there is time to nip out if we need anything.

After lunch we look at the clothes, firstly we empty bags that have been brought in onto the table and sort through them. We are looking for rips and marks and have to make sure they are clean and fit to put out onto the shop floor for sale. Once we have completed the sorting we add the price tag, put them onto a hanger, put on the size cubes, steam clean them and hang them on the rail ready for the shop floor.

It is a very busy day but I am really enjoying the experience and the staff and volunteers are really helpful and have been very encouraging since the first day.”

Well done Danielle, keep up the good work!

Last week, we mentioned Zulaika had secured volunteer work at Oldham Library, so in next week’s blog, we will be handing over to Zulaika for her ‘Day in the Life’, so you can see what she does and how this has helped her to get the job!

Have a great weekend everyone!

We will see you all next week.

The Future Finders Team.