Zeenat’s Story

Zeenat became unemployed after finishing her job as a nursery nurse in December 2021. She wanted a change of career and needed help to build a new CV to target any future job search and applications.

Zeenat registered with Accelerate in March 2022 to receive support, to gain volunteering opportunities and for help in finding a new job. Our Journey Guide referred her to Job club and Optima for well-being sessions and also to our internal confidence building sessions at WATCH.
Our Journey Guide discussed the benefits of volunteering with Zeenat and subsequently provided her with a WATCH volunteering form so she could apply for a volunteer placement at WATCH where she would be able to learn new skills around customer service and administration. Gaining this kind of experience would be very useful for Zeenat’s CV when it came to applying for roles in this kind of workplace.

Zeenat soon became a volunteer with WATCH where she provided reception and customer service support to our organisation. This work experience placement helped to build her confidence and interpersonal skills in order to pursue further training in administration and customer service. Zeenat then enrolled on a five-week Customer Service Level 2 course through the NHS which ran up until June 2022. Zeenat managed to complete and pass the course and also started a Business & Administration Level 2 course with Birmingham Metropolitan College which she also passed in July 2022. Zeenat’s confidence started to increase as she volunteered regularly at WATCH and she continued to attend well-being sessions with Optima (another partner organisation of Accelerate).

This helped her to explore her feelings, recognise and overcome anxiety symptoms and understand how to manage stressful situations. Zeenat’s Journey Guide constantly encouraged her progression, providing positive feedback and offering support to prepare her CV when she felt ready to apply for paid employment. Our Journey Guide could see how well Zeenat was developing and so advised her to apply for a part time receptionist vacancy which has emerged at WATCH. Zeenat was given intensive mentorship with the application process including practicing her interview skills and preparing questions for a possible interview. Zeenat applied for the part-time reception position and was successful in securing the role!

She credited her Journey Guide and the Accelerate Project with significantly increasing her confidence and nurturing her aspirations for a career change. Zeenat mentioned that the constant encouragement and reassurance she received from her Journey Guide along with the communication and organisational skills that she gained from her volunteering experience were instrumental in her starting work. She also highlighted how the Optima course had provided her with a positive outlook and the emotional intelligence to deal with difficult situations. Zeenat is thoroughly enjoying her new role with WATCH and is looking forward to consolidating her skills and experiences to develop herself both professionally and personally.