Ashton Meade, young father and now a confident learner.
With a two year old daughter to support, 20 year old Ashton Meade knew he had to find a job but with no qualifications Ashton knew this could be difficult until he found learndirect.
Ashton tells his story:
I had work experience but with no qualifications it was really hard to find a job. I went to the jobcentre in East London and when I said I wanted to get a qualification they sent me to learndirect.
The learndirect centre is really different because you learn at the centre and then work at Weavers Cafe so you meet real customers and gain experience whilst you work towards an NVQ Level 2 in customer service and health and safety in the workplace (equivalent to 5 grade A-C GCSEs).
“It’s only been two years since I left school so I wasn’t nervous about the learning part and the staff really helped me from the beginning with things like filling in the paperwork. I decided to do my best and that should be enough to get me onto the career ladder. Once I started I made lots of new friends and loved all of the practical work.
“I studied at the centre everyday until 2pm and then I had the afternoons free to spend with my little girl. It was completely flexible so I could make it suit me and my family.
“Working at Weavers Café was my first job and the staff their taught me to work front of house on the tills, serving customers and stock taking.
“learndirect and Weavers has really helped me; I find it easier now to speak to customers and I’m a lot more confident. Since I did the course finding work has not been a problem. I’m currently working part time at Canary Wharf as a customer service advisor and I really enjoy it.
“I’ve told some of my friends about the course I did and they are really interested as they can see how much I have progressed. I try to tell them the best bit of the course but I liked it all, getting the certificate at the end was good too.”
Ashton’s studies were funded by the European Social Fund.