We are delighted to congratulate John Oliver who is the first person to complete our new SQA accredited Employability Award!
John was referred to Apex by his work coach at Irvine jobcentre due to being long term unemployed. His assigned Personal Development Mentor (PDM), John Brownlie, met with him a few times before lockdown, mentioning the award and suggesting it could improve his chances of employment as well as helping to improve his confidence.
When face to face appointments were suspended, John decided to pursue the online qualification and was supported by his PDM via video call. Taking him around 10-12 hours to complete, the Employability Award involves completing a number of worksheets and activities such as mock interviews and aptitude tests.
The Employability Award is available to Apex service users through our new online training portal and can be accessed completely remotely, which is ideal in the current socially-distanced environment; a number of our clients are now taking up the opportunity.
John commented that completing the qualification has helped to confirm the goals that he has in relation to finding work in landscaping or labouring, where he has previous experience, and his confidence has improved thanks to the regular support he gets from Apex.
Well done John!
