S had had a successful career in the furniture industry. Then at the age of 63 he found himself out of work. He had not had an interview for many years, he did not have a cv, and he had lost a lot of confidence. I was able to rectify the lack of a cv and give him lots of interview practice to bolster his confidence. He was a star pupil! He then applied for a job at John Lewis. His first interview involved some team working assessments which threw him a bit! But he got through, had a second interview and was offered the job. He was told afterwards that there had been 100 applicants!

M had been unemployed for almost 3 years. He is 62 years old. He had originally intended to take early retirement but realised that he was not ready to do this. He had a wealth of skills in inventory management and an excellent employment track record, but he regularly received either no response or a no thank you email. With support from my team, he did not give up and he kept himself motivated. It paid off and he now has a job which is a perfect match for his skills.

J was made redundant from her catering management role and decided that she wanted to change her field of work. Her previous role had involved some business administration, and this was the part of her role that she enjoyed the most. We worked out a plan to support J to make the change, and part of this was for J to volunteer to gain experience of reception work and administration. This experience was then incorporated into her cv, and a relevant reference was obtained. I am delighted to say that J now has a reception/admin role at a Health Centre. J is 53 years old.

P was a Transport Manager and had been employed for many years at his local Council. He had applied for several roles, and had interviews, but always seemed to come second. We decided to give P some extensive interview coaching, and this included panel interview practice. The questions were based on an actual job role, and we put together a panel of 6. This was quite tough, but it was ideal preparation for the real thing. I was thrilled when P emailed me to tell me that he had been successful at the real panel interview, and that it had been a doddle compared to the interview we put him through! He was over the moon. P is 59 years old.