A small charity in Edinburgh is helping long term unemployed women to get back into the workforce by offering to help them prepare for interviews.
Not only does Smart Works put women through their paces in a mock-interview, but the charity also helps them to look the part, by offering free business outfits, donated by kindly members of the public.
Two thirds of the women that the charity has helped have gone on to get the job that the charity helped them to prepare for.
The organisation offered support to Lindsay Knight, who was a bookbinder for 24 years and wanted to become a full-time carer after spending time out of the workforce nursing her elderly mother.
‘Being the age I was, after that length of employment, I had to go for another interview,’ Knight told Scotland’s Daily Record.
‘I thought, how do I cope this? I’m going to make a mess of it. I was one for either saying nothing or letting them hear my full autobiography.
Now I’ve got to an even level, I don’t say too little, I don’t say too much. Smart Works have helped me remarkably with that.’
The effectiveness of the charity has been noted by the community. Job centres, doctors and homeless organisations are now sending potential employees to Smart Works for help getting back on the job ladder.
Rebecca joined the HRreview editorial team in January 2016. After graduating from the University of Sheffield Hallam in 2013 with a BA in English Literature, Rebecca has spent five years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past she has been part of the editorial teams at Sleeper and Dezeen and has founded her own arts collective.
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