A SCOTS dad has credited a local charity consortium with a ‘life-changing’ career move.
Neil Buchan said, thanks to All in Dundee, he can now spend more quality time with his son, has better physical and mental health and has a significantly improved quality of life.
The dad-of-one from Dundee reached out on a whim, seeking advice about a potential move away from his role as an overnight security guard at an adult gaming centre.
ENABLE Works then guided Neil through a variety of small steps to prepare him to apply for new roles, including a soft skills workshop, CV update and interview preparation.
Neil has since never looked back.
ENABLE Works and its Parental Employment Support Programme, as part of the All in Dundee consortium, works to provide parents and carers with enhanced employment opportunities.
This can be through upskilling in the workplace, entry level jobs or new job opportunities, where the organisation aims to better employment prospects of anyone with a dependent.
Embedded within 28 local authorities across Scotland, the organisation supports 5,500 people each year.
Speaking today Neil said: “There was no one defining moment for me that drove me to try and change jobs, it was a slow decline in my physical and mental health over many years that made me think I should try and make some changes.
“That, and I was losing out on precious, quality time with my son because I was working every evening and weekend and only getting to see him on Mondays and Tuesdays – I would never get that time back with him and already felt as though I had missed out on so much with him.
“I was aimlessly scrolling Facebook one evening when I spotted an advert for a programme being run in Dundee by ENABLE Scotland, All in Dundee.
“In in a moment of madness, I reached out to see if I was eligible for some of the support being offered.
“At this point I wasn’t particularly hopeful and thought there would be a complex set of eligibility criteria to meet to be able to gain access to support.
“To my surprise I did meet the one requirement – I was a parent and I contributed to the upbringing of my son. I couldn’t believe it, surely it couldn’t be that easy!
“When the team at ENABLE started to run through the soft skills workshop with me I thought I knew what the outcome was going to be; organised and hard working.
“I was so surprised at all the ‘soft skills’ that the team identified in me – I suppose I had always taken for granted that I was good at things such as customer service.
“I thought everyone was good at that, turns out I was wrong! When it came to starting to look for appropriate job roles, again I thought I knew the types of things I would be put forward for.
“Given my previous role had some elements of hospitality management required, I thought these would be the easiest roles to place me in – I was happy with that but it wasn’t the career change I was aspiring for.
“Again, I couldn’t have been more wrong. The team at ENABLE took on board everything that I had told them about my likes and dislikes and my aspirations, coupled with some of my soft skills and started identifying roles that they thought I would be suitable for where we settled on customer service.
“I am now in a role that I never thought I would be suitable for, working within a large company in the customer service department with regular nine-five hours and an opportunity to learn every day.
“I am able to spend weekends with my son, take him out for pizza on a Friday night and generally look after us both to a much better standard than I was able to before.
“The difference that this new role has given me is indescribable, I’ll never regret reaching out and asking for help.
“If I could sit with every parent who is either worried about their job prospects, or has money worries, and tell them my story then I would.
“I’m urging people to reach out, get help and accept the support that is being offered – you won’t regret it.”
The Scottish Government’s Parent Club recently launched a new campaign aimed at encouraging families living on a low income to access local support with finances and work.
It urges people to take the first step towards relieving these pressures with help from the Parent Club website.
This can guide them towards tailored support to help them improve their situation by starting work after unemployment, returning to work or improving earnings.
Gemma Falconer, Operations Manager, North East – ENABLE Works said: “Neil’s story is inspiration for many parents across Scotland, he has turned his life around by simply taking a risk and asking for help.
“The team at ENABLE and All in Dundee are there to help, they want to help.
“The cost-of-living crisis has had a detrimental impact on so many families across the country and we are hopeful that schemes such as All in Dundee and the Parent Club campaign provide the support families need.”
