Jobs and Careers - South East (2) 2012 - (Page 10)

interview Q. What is the most common problem facing the people you’ve helped on the programme? A. The low self-esteem. The sense of a lack of self-belief. A lot of the people I work with have very much become their environment: what I mean by that is, they have had parents that claimed benefits, the people they live around claim benefits, and therefore to break away from that is so difficult, because they feel like that working is almost going against who they are and where they come from. A lot of parents who live on benefits and have always lived on benefits will always say to their children: "It has been good enough for us, so why is it not good enough for you?" When you have been younger and you have been told you will not amount to anything and you have never been encouraged, no matter how far-fetched your dream is – say it is to be a rocket scientist, surely it is the parents’ duty, in my opinion, to say "OK, if you want to be a rocket scientist, let’s get you every book on rockets. Let’s go on the internet and explore it, let’s check out NASA, let’s see what you have to do, what qualifications you need to get." And when it becomes recognition in that child’s mind that "this is what I want to do but I can’t realistically achieve that" – it is their decision. You are still backing them but it is their decision. CONTINUED... to be a midwife – and one wanted to be a superhero… But there’s a way in there: "Why did you want to be a superhero?" "Because I want to make people feel better than the way I felt" – and there you go. We are off, and then we explore things. I try to adapt to them and who they are, and try to bring myself to their level. So that they know that I am not this 44-yearold woman standing there. I can find that common denominator – like music, for instance – that gets them… "She is different isn’t she?" Q. So what does the future hold for you – other than continuing success with The Fairy Jobmother, of course? A. Something that I want very much to get into is going into secondary schools, and starting with the kids when they are 11. And teaching them what I call fundamental life skills. They have a thing called PHSA which says "when you leave here you need a CV and that should get everything covered". But it needs to look at how to reach your dreams and aspirations, too: "you can do anything you want to do and achieve, and this is the way you want to go about it". Simple things like bringing forward work experience: it’s no good doing it for two weeks when you are 16 when you leave school two months later – that is not beneficial. There should be a period every single year where you go in and visit companies and see what goes on within those companies. www.jobsandcareersmag.com 09 http://www.jobsandcareersmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jobs and Careers - South East (2) 2012

THE FAIRY JOBMOTHER
SURVEY YOUR CV
RETURN TO EARN
AIM HIGH
ROUND THE HOUSES
SPOTLIGHT
CHARITABLE BUSINESS
SOURCING COURSES
CARING & SHARING
10 CARE FACTS
EMPLOYER EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND CREATIVITY
A GUIDE TO THE SOUTH EAST
USEFUL CONTACTS

Jobs and Careers - South East (2) 2012