Ingrida U’s story

I lost my job at the start of February, because of the pandemic. I had fifteen years’ experience working in the luxury retail industry and a successful job as a Boutique Manager. But when the pandemic hit we lost business, and then I lost my dad. It was really affecting my family – especially my mum – and all of our mental health, so I made the decision to give up my job to support them. 

Once my mum got back on her feet, I decided to start looking for work again. But with the whole world changing, I thought it might be time for me to learn some new skills. That’s how I came across the Digital Skills and Customer Service courses with The Forward Trust. 

Everyone I dealt with at Forward was warm, caring, very supportive and professional.

The support I had from The Forward Trust was amazing. 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.

I got a lot out of both courses. In my Digital Skills course I was introduced to blogging, website management and social media. It was all really new to me but Iquo took the time to guide me through it in one-to-ones. Meanwhile, in my Customer Service course with Sherileen we were taught how to deal with clients in lots of different real-world situations. We were given loads of resources, too, which I would have struggled to find myself, as well as interview advice. 

The pandemic has been hard but I’m really thankful to have been kept busy and supported by The Forward Trust.

Everyone I dealt with at Forward was warm, caring, very supportive and professional. I personally 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.

I came to these courses having a lot of work experience already but found that there’s always more to learn and update. I’ll be able to use these skills in both my professional and personal life. The pandemic has been hard but I’m really thankful to have been kept busy and supported by The Forward Trust. It was such a positive experience and I’d definitely recommend it to others.