Warehouse Skills Development Programme – Employability Support - An Interview with Brendan
The Warehouse Skills Development Programme (WSDP) was designed by CFINE in March 2021. The WSDP, is currently on its 16th intake of participants, is aimed at people experiencing barriers to employment – such as long-term unemployment or a lack of qualifications and experience.
Each course runs for eight weeks with participants attending from 9am-4pm, Monday to Friday. This routine helps participants acclimatise to a full working week, preparing them for employment. The course supports with practical work experience in a warehouse, numerous certified qualifications, and forklift operator training. Additionally, participants are supported with job-searching, CV writing, and mock interviews.
The course also ties in with CFINE’s other services. Course participants are given membership at CFINE’s community food pantry, and take part in cooking lessons at CFINE’s inhouse training kitchen ‘Cook at the Nook’. They also can receive financial/benefits support from the SAFE (Support Advice Finance Education) Team. Participants are also offered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy should they require it, which can help improve mental health. The course therefore goes beyond offering employability skills and provides wrap-around support for the group in a variety of areas.
A participant of the 15th WSDP intake is Brendan, who joined after finishing his sixth year of secondary school. Brendan heard about the course through ABZ Works – the Aberdeen City Council’s employability team. Unsure of what to do upon finishing school, the course appealed to him as an opportunity to gain new skills and accredited qualifications that would help boost his employability going forward. Brendan worked at CFINE on a day-to-day basis helping staff and volunteers in our FareShare and fruit & veg warehouses carry out operations. He completed 26 accredited online courses, passed his forklift operator test, learnt numerous practical skills with the warehouse teams, including pallet building and completing deliveries in the van. Brendan also attended the weekly cooking classes at ‘Cook at the Nook’, boosting his confidence to cook. Brendan also noted that he has developed personally as well as professionally, highlighting an increased confidence, and new friendships as further positive outcomes from taking part in the course. Additionally, Brendan felt welcome at CFINE, commenting that staff from all projects were friendly and supportive.
Following the course Brendan would like to join the Army. He feels that CFINE’s Warehouse Skills Development Programme has provided him with relevant skills for this career and has also given him a variety of alternative employment options. Brendan noted that he feels it is important that courses like the WSDP are offered to people looking to gain new employability skills and was unsure if he would have found a similar course offering wrap-around support elsewhere.
We would like to thank Brendan for all his hard work on the course and wish him all the best going forward!
If you would like to find out more about CFINE’s employability work, please get in touch.
Please consider supporting CFINE and our support services! Donate here.
