Case Study

No barrier too big for Adebola

26 Nov 2021

Relocating from a different country, having a career break and childcare to consider hasn’t stopped 44-year-old Adebola Oluseyi-Ogunlana from re-starting her career. With help from JETS, alongside her eagerness to return to work, Adebola has proved no barrier is too big in finding employment.

Adebola and her family moved from Nigeria to Oldham in 2014. Previously enjoying a successful career in Africa within the financial services industry, Adebola had to wait six years before she was legally allowed to work in the UK. As soon as she was able to, she eagerly began searching for work online – but with little success.

After signing up to her local Jobcentre Plus, Adebola was referred to the WHP JETS programme, where she was supported by Ingeus employment coach Effie Obonyo. In Greater Manchester, Ingeus delivers the Working Well (Work and Health Programme) Job Entry Targeted Support (WHP JETS) programme on behalf of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

Adebola says, “I didn’t find looking for work easy. I’d signed up to a lot of recruitment websites, but I didn’t get any acknowledgement for my applications. It was only after JETS helped me with my CV that this changed.”

Adebola and Effie worked together to update and shorten the length of her CV, which included Adebola’s impressive work experience in Nigeria. Being supported remotely, Adebola was also introduced to iWorks, an Ingeus tool to support with mock interviews and job searches, as well as CVs.

“My employment coach was really helpful,” recalls Adebola. “She gave me such a lot of practical support in finding the job and she was brilliant in organising the laptop and headset I needed to do the work, which I would have really struggled to get otherwise.”

Now working full time from home in a customer services role, Adebola is able to cater for her three young children’s needs, while also re-igniting her own career ambitions.

She explains, “Working from home really suits me at the moment as I can easily take and pick my children up from school – if I had to travel I might not be able to do so many hours work.

“I’m so happy I’ve been able to get back into work, and this is just the starting point for me. I would love to develop my skills further and possibly move into HR.”

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