Ben's story - Youthbuild

Ben completed our Youthbuild course after successfully overcoming various barriers which made it difficult for him to sustain employment.

Barriers to employment

As someone who was often relied upon to take care of younger siblings, Ben was often unable to honour commitments to attend work trials and placements which obviously hindered his ability to get into full time employment.

He often turned up late at the beginning of his time on our programme and his attendance was sporadic. Ben was still engaging in criminal behaviours, lacked motivation and also suffered a bereavement during his time on the course.

A short time after the bereavement, Ben came back and seemed to be more motivated to attend the course and secure employment.

He said he was sick of having no money and no routine, he was looking for a reason to get up in the morning and said he was keen to make the necessary steps to improve his life.

Work trial

Ben made significant progress and his attendance and time keeping dramatically improved. He became more conscientious in letting us know if he was going to be late although these times were few and far between.

Ben completed the coursework to a good standard and was engaging very successfully with us which made it an easy decision to send him on another work trial with a potential employer.

During his work trial, he had fantastic attendance and he continuously received positive and encouraging feedback from his site supervisors. They were delighted with hsi character and work ethic.

Ben completed a work trial successfully and is now onto wages with the company and continuing to make a good impression as a valued member of the team.