Pictured: Paul Hamill
I first met Kyle back in January 2014 at the Jobcentre in Banbridge. At first I was nervous as I was stepping out of my comfort zone and entering into an environment that was completely new to me. However, after meeting with Kyle and seeing how nice and pleasant he was, I realised that all of that worry was for nothing.
We met up every two weeks a month at Starbucks down in the Outlet where I brought my CV and we sat down and made a few adjustments to it. Then Kyle decided to set me up with a Work Placement where he could see how I coped in a working environment We began looking on the jobsite at admin work first, and then we went around office buildings in Banbridge and Newry seeing if we could arrange a placement, unfortunately we were unsuccessful.
It then occurred to me that Admin work was not what I had been looking for. Instead we started looking at Retail in Banbridge and Newry and I was delighted to hear that Kyle got me a placement at the Dromore Road Spar in Banbridge.
I met with the manager Patricia who was very nice and we arranged that I would spend ten weeks at the shop working 3 days a week 9am – 1pm Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. My role in the shop was Customer Advisor. My duties included Replenishing Stock, Tidying the Store Room, Unloading Deliveries and assisting customers with any queries they may have had. Overall I enjoyed the work and it was a good experience. The staff were very nice, easy to get on with and to work with in a team.
I was then able to take the skills that I learnt at Spar with me into the working environment and I am now currently employed at the new Eurospar at Fruitfield Service Station in Richhill. I am merely doing the same duties as I did in Banbridge but expanding into other roles such as working the till.
Looking back at my journey now, I feel that I have come a very long way from being nervous at the very first day to then going out around places. Meeting new people took guts and the more I did it, the more it became easier. However none of this would be possible if it weren’t for Kyle. He took his time and patience to help me get where I am today and he taught me certain interview skills that I can take with me into the future.
Thank you Kyle