JOBS
GO WEST
FOR WORK
“I had been out of work for a
very long time,” said Symone
Liburd of Greenford, who is
now a sous chef at a catering
company after becoming one of
more than 100 local people who
have been helped into jobs or training
by WEST over the past year.
“I
had been out of work for three
years,” added Symone, 30.
“Therefore, I had no recent
employment history. I was looking
to undertake some volunteering
to help me transition from being
unemployed to employed.”
This is where WEST (which stands
for Work, Education, Support and
Training) came in. The service was only
set up in 2015 by Ealing Council with
the support of the Mayor of London
but, despite only running for a year, it
is already having great results with its
personalised, one-to-one support.
OVERCOMING A BIG CV GAP
Antony Cole, 43, was out of work for
three-and-a-half years because of
illness and was struggling to get back
into employment.
“I think it had been a problem for
me because of the big gap on my
CV,” said Antony, who lives in Perivale.
“It caused a loss of confidence in my
ability to work again. WEST made a
huge difference.
“I have now found a job working
as a customer service assistant for
Carillion across Ealing Libraries. I have
had tremendous help with building
the right CV and a mock interview with
my work advisor, Syreeta Augustine, a
day before my real interview which was
the key to my success. The interview I
had for this vacancy was my very first
interview in 16 years.
“I would most definitely recommend
the WEST project to others. As a
matter of fact, I have directed job
seeking customers at the library to go
to WEST for assistance.”
‘THEY GENUINELY WANT YOU TO
ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS’
Symone echoed Antony’s endorsement
of WEST and added: “The dedicated
advisers help you to identify the
reasons why you have been out of work
and what you can do to overcome it.
They also have great resources such
as accredited training and local links
to help you get a job and genuinely
want you to achieve your goals. WEST
helped me to set achievable shortterm goals and address the areas that I
wasn’t very strong in.”
WANT TO FIND OUT MORE?
If you are unemployed, living in the
borough and over 18 years old, WEST
can help. Regular one-to-ones are run in
community centres and libraries across
the borough, by appointment only.
Advisors can offer support on a oneto-one basis with:
■ CV writing
■ Job search and application help
■ Interview preparation
■ Career advice
■ Access to free, accredited training.
To find out more, call
020 8825 9894 or email
[email protected]
around ealing
Winter 2016/17
17