Into Work Award

Daniel Jones was faced with uncertainty about his job prospects, a lack of confidence in himself, as well as difficulties communicating with new people after leaving college. Determined to improve his skills, he completed the Employability Skills Programme with flying colours. From there, Daniel landed a Job Growth Wales placement.

Just two weeks into his placement, Daniel secured a full-time role and is well on his way to building a successful career in IT. Daniel said, “I can’t believe how far I’ve come in the past couple of years. ’I’ve always had a passion for IT because it’s new and cutting-edge..”

Daniel was confronted with setbacks after leaving college, but refused to give up on his ambitions of finding employment in IT. He continued: “It quickly became clear to me that I needed way more experience to get into work. The start of the course was tough. I realised I needed lots of improvement. When we started I was very shy and reserved.

“Going through the course and meeting new people every day really helped to build my confidence and prepare me for life after college with training on things like CV writing and interview prep. I use loads of these skills to this day.”

Daniel said: “It was strange and slightly daunting at first getting used to a 9-5 working environment. Thankfully, I had two colleagues on the support desk who showed me the ropes and were extremely supportive.

“I loved the challenge. There were lots of different things I had to do, it empowered me to know how to diagnose issues and resolve them as quickly as possible.” For Daniel, things kicked up a notch during to the pandemic.

“I had to become even more self-reliant and independent. The rest of my team were dealing with the stresses of getting all the infrastructure in place to support remote working. I knew I needed to step up to help them so began picking up even more tasks and responsibilities.”

He continued: “It felt amazing to have finally reached my goal of a full-time position in IT. All the hard work paid off. I couldn’t have done it without the experience, confidence and people skills I’ve gained since leaving college. “If I could give my younger self a piece of advice, I’d say you don’t always need to rush into full-time work. That’s what I tried to do and it demotivated me because I wasn’t ready.’

“Gaining the experience and skills before going into employment really set me up for success and I can’t recommend it enough to other young people in a situation like mine.

“I had such a tough time before I started learning, I didn’t know where my life was heading. Having a purpose and clearer career path has changed everything.”