Ingrida lost her job at the start of February 2020 because of the pandemic. She had 15 years of experience working in the luxury retail industry and a successful job as a boutique manager. But when the pandemic hit, she lost business - and then Ingrida lost her dad.
Ingrida’s whole family were hit hard when her dad passed away, so she decided to give up her job to support them. Once her mum got back on her feet, Ingrida started to look for work again. However, with the whole world changing, she thought it might be time to learn some new skills. That’s how Ingrida came across the Digital Skills and Customer Service courses with The Forward Trust’s Employment Support service.
On the Digital Skills course, Ingrida was introduced to blogging, website management, and social media. It was all new to ger, but her employment advisors took the time to guide Ingrida through it in one-to-ones. Meanwhile, on the Customer Service course, Ingrida and her peers were taught how to deal with clients in lots of different real-world situations. Ingrida was given lots of resources, which she stated that she would have struggled to find herself, as well as interview advice.
“The support I had from The Forward Trust was amazing,” Ingrida said.
“My tutors, Iquo and Sherileen, did a fantastic job. They were so patient and really good at getting us engaged during Zoom calls, supporting us during assessments, and providing examples and simple explanations of the points they made.”
“Everyone I dealt with at Forward was warm, caring, supportive, and professional. I think it’s so impressive how they managed to support us remotely and get us to understand and complete our assessments correctly. It was clear they were making a lot of effort, which I really respect.”
Ingrida came to these courses having a lot of work experience already but found that there’s always more to learn. The pandemic was hard for Ingrida, but she was supported by staff at Forward and managed to develop her skills across several areas.
“It was such a positive experience, and I’d definitely recommend their employment services to others.”
