Back in the driving seat
LOSING YOUR JOB CAN BE A DEVASTATING BLOW – WHICH IS WHY THE ROLE OF A WORK COACH IS SO IMPORTANT
FINDING himself unexpectedly jobless after 37 years of working in farming and HGV driving came as a huge blow to Iain Hill.
“It’s hard to describe just how bad it feels – it absolutely knocks you for six,” he admits. “All your financial stability goes, your confidence goes, everything just drains away.
“I always had a good job and a good car, but then sud denly when you don’t have money coming in any more you can’t do a lot of the things you’d intended to because you have that uncer tainty. Your whole life just gets put on hold.”
In 2019, Iain lost his position as an HGV driver that he’d had for more than 12 years. “It was a family business that was going through some changes – and I just wasn’t needed anymore,” explains the 54year-old. ing and lorry driving all my life and I’d only ever been out of work for three months when I was about 17, back in the 80s when we had really high unemployment rates. To suddenly be without a job was such a shock.”
Iain had started claiming benefits at this point, but he says his luck did a U-turn the day he went into his local jobcentre in Newtown and was introduced to Work Coach Lwsi Morgan.
“If there is anyone better at their job than Lwsi, I’d like to meet them. I don’t think they’ve been born yet!” Iain laughs. “Everyone there treated me with respect – but Lwsi went beyond the call of duty to help me.
“She went through everything with me. I showed her my CV and she helped me get that rearranged, and I don’t have access to emails so she made sure I could get access.
“She also looked at the skills I have and how they might be right for the jobs that were out there. I was just really lucky to have that kind of support.” After several temporary roles, Iain began a new HGV driving job last Sep
It’s made such a difference to me to get back into work again. I didn’t want to be just sitting in the house
tember and he couldn’t be happier. “It’s permanent, and it’s made such a difference to me to get back into work again. I didn’t want to be just sitting in the house – I’m so glad to be driving again.”
Lwsi recalls how she helped Iain in his search to find his current job. “We worked as a team to set up an email account and sign Iain up to different jobsites,” she says. “When the second lockdown arrived, we held weekly telephone appointments to discuss where things were up to and refine his CV, and sent it to multiple employers.
“In between appointments, I searched for vacancies and informed Iain of one that had come up at a local business. Soon after, he got a phone call from them, which led to his current job. He was extremely grateful for the support we could provide.”
Grateful is the word. Iain says: “For anyone else in the same situation I was, I’d absolutely recommend seeing a Work Coach and putting yourself in their hands. I couldn’t fault them.”