FORTH Ports welcomed its newest operations administrator to the Port of Grangemouth following her successful Kickstart traineeship.
Louise Logan from Falkirk took part in a paid six-month traineeship last year as part of the Government’s Kickstart work programme.
The Kickstart programme was designed to help out of work 16 to 24-year-olds improve their career prospects by learning new skills in a real working environment.
Before the programme, Louise was looking for a job after completing a college course and took up the kickstart placement offer to boost her career opportunities.
Following a successful six months, Louise was offered a permanent position as an operations administrator working at the Port of Grangemouth’s busy container terminal.
Her new role includes ensuring that all the container traffic through the port flows as efficiently as possible, helping haulage drivers with their enquiries and ensuring the right containers get released to the correct customers.
Commenting on her new role Louise Logan said: “I have learned and gained experience in a field I had not previously considered while earning a full-time wage.
“I have also been in contact with my work coach from DWP throughout the programme who has checked how I am getting on.
“I am really pleased to have been offered a full-time role at the Port and I am really enjoying it.”
Michelle Primrose, Group HR Manager at Forth Ports said: “Our congratulations to Louise on her new full-time role with the container operations team following her successful Kickstart traineeship.
“During the pandemic it was not an easy time for young people looking to start a career and we saw the Kickstart scheme as an ideal way of developing the young workforce of the future.
“Forth Ports has a long and proud tradition of investing in young people including our apprenticeship programme which has trained and recruited almost a hundred apprentices across the Group covering engineering, operations, finance and Health & Safety, with many of those apprentices going on to have a fulfilling career in the Forth Ports business.”
Louise’s work coach at Falkirk Jobcentre, Anne Thomson, said: “I am so pleased for Louise. When she came to me last year she was looking for a role in hospitality or retail.
“Looking at Louise’s CV, I told her she had great qualifications and was selling herself short and should consider some admin roles.
“I worked with her to build her confidence and supported her to apply for the Forth Ports role.
“We got great feedback after her interview with Forth Ports and she was then offered a six-month Kickstart placement.
“I am absolutely delighted to hear that she has now been offered a permanent post.”
Forth Ports Limited owns and operates eight commercial ports in the UK, Tilbury on the Thames, Dundee on the Firth of Tay and six on the Firth of Forth.
Within and around the Firths of Forth and Tay, Forth ports manages and operates an area of 280 square miles of navigable waters including two specialised marine terminals for oil and gas export and provides other marine services such as towage and conservancy.
