Callum Sharp enjoyed his time at Think Employment so much that he ended up doing five training courses with us.
Originally Callum signed up to our Warehousing and Storage training to improve his chances of working in the sector, but then he went on to enrol on the Customer Service, Hospitality, Retail and Employment Pathways courses as well. The 20-year-old chose to gain as many skills and qualifications as he could during his time with us to increase his chances of finding work faster.
We spoke to Callum about the training, our learning environment and how the staff at our Leeds centre always managed to make him feel supported.
Callum, can you remember how did you first come to hear about Think Employment?
My Uncle actually saw an advert for a Warehousing and Storage course on Facebook and he told me to give you a call and get myself booked in. So I did. Then I went and had a chat with one of your advisors and I ended up doing a Customer Service Course first because the Warehousing one wasn’t until the following week. Rather than just sitting around and waiting for a week at home, I thought I might as well do a course in customer service as well.
What did you learn during the Customer Service and Warehousing courses?
I learnt quite a few things during the Customer Service course I didn’t know about before, like the different types of questions you can ask people and ways you can help customers. The Warehousing training was a bit more hands-on and practical – which I liked. You had to show that you knew how to pack things and carry things safely which was fun and informative.
While you were looking for employment opportunities in warehousing, didn’t you then decide to do more courses with us?
Well, I thought the first two had been good so I might as well do more! I did the Employment Pathways, Hospitality and then Retail Courses. I thought that the more courses I did, the more skills and qualifications I had, and so the more jobs I could apply for. I thought it would be better to have a variety of skills than focusing on one sector. Plus, I was enjoying getting out of the house, meeting new people and gaining new skills.
We really admire that attitude, Callum. Did you find that the length of our courses only being one week persuaded you to stay on and get more skills?
Yeah, I think to have them as one week long is beneficial. Usually, when people apply for a course they’d probably think it would take at least a month or longer and that’s a long time to be on benefits. It’s not like the courses are really long and you get bored of them either; like you might get with a college or university course. Your courses just take a week out of your time and that’s it.
What did you think of the learning environment we have at our Leeds centre?
To be honest, I was expecting to be more like a college and you’d just be sat a desk and the tutors would put a workbook in front of you. I wasn’t expecting the learning to be done on a computer. I thought that was good because it helps if people have dyslexia or trouble writing. The staff members are all really nice. They are not at all how I remembered teachers and college tutors to be – they wouldn’t want to speak to you outside of the classroom. But with the staff at Think Employment, they are no different with us whether we’re learning or not. So yeah, it’s not as I’d expected. It’s actually better in my opinion.
We understand that you suffer from depression – did you think that coming to Think Employment has been positive for you?
Yeah, it’s got me out of the house and gave me something to do apart from sitting and trying to find a job. It felt as though there was always someone here to help because all the staff members are so kind and friendly. Even if there’s just one member of staff in the room, they always found time to help everyone.
