Eugenie’s Story

When college ended, Eugenie realised she didn’t know what to do next. Many of her classmates were heading off to university but this was something that had never appealed to her. Instead, she was keen to start a career but she had no idea where to start. This wasn’t the only challenge Eugenie was facing – the nation was in lockdown and many companies were making redundancies, much less taking on new staff, so she knew it would be an uphill battle.

When she received her A-Level results, Eugenie spoke to a career advisor at the college and was told about Inspire and the work they do with young people. They agreed that the courses be a good opportunity to help her build her CV, stand out from the competition, and show employers that she was keen to learn despite her lack of experience.

“Academically I did alright and came out with fairly good passes. I could have gone to university if I had wanted to, but I just knew it wasn’t for me. Because I had no employment history, I thought I have to start somewhere, so I chose to do some courses with Inspire.”

The first course she took was Step Up Apprenticeships where she reviewed her CV and practised her interview skills. At this point, coronavirus restrictions were easing, and she quickly realised she had missed interacting with people and learning new things. Eugenie was really glad to have a sense of direction and, during her 2 weeks on the course, came out of her shell and found that she felt a lot happier – she was moving forward again.

“A lot of it was working on employability and recognising what I was good at, which helped me. In the past I had put myself down a lot and didn’t see what I could do as terribly special. Doing the course helped me realise that I have strengths that are beneficial to an employer.”

At college, she’d always enjoyed Maths and Electronics, so her tutor recommended the Step Up Construction course as her next step. Almost immediately it ignited a passion in her and she was determined to start a career in the industry. Construction and Engineering was something that played to Eugenie’s strengths and, despite being one of the first women to take the course, she felt incredibly at home. She passed the course with flying colours, earning a CSCS card and qualifications in Health and Safety.

“I think it’s important to realise that whatever gender you are, you shouldn’t feel pushed into certain roles based on it. If you’ve got the skill for it, you’re a valuable asset and people will recognise it.”

With the help of skills she gained, Eugenie quickly secured a job with a local company as a trainee engineer, where she is now developing a system to monitor stock levels of components. Her employer explained that what she lacked in experience, she made up for in work ethic and by taking the steps to gain qualifications, she had shown initiative which helped her stand out from other candidates.

“Before I started I had absolutely no CV, especially not one I would be proud of anyway. To have learnt how to do it has helped me tremendously, it’s a very important thing to get right. When employers see I have a CSCS card, they see me as someone who is willing, is committed to that line of work and has potential. I’ve become more of a desirable candidate to companies as they don’t have to train me up.

After this, I may either go in to further training or my biggest hope is to land an apprenticeship. If it goes well where I work, I’d like to continue in this line of engineering, but I’m open-minded. I quite like the idea of nuclear engineering, so that’s a possibility”

For others who are thinking of taking the course, Eugenie has some words of advice…

If you struggle with confidence issues or finding a job, I would certainly recommend Inspire. I thought my CV would be completely hopeless, but the course showed me otherwise. If you’re feeling hopeless, it will show you that you can do it – if I can you can!

To learn more about our courses, and join Eugenie and many others who have improved their employability with Inspire, please click here.