This time on the ELITE Jobseeker Spotlight, we are going Hollywood… well technically! We are shining the spotlight onto Josh who is currently working at Odeon Cinema in Cardiff Bay. With popcorn in hand, we had the chance to catch up with SES participant during his lunchbreak a few weeks ago!

Josh was initially referred to ELITE by Cardiff JCP in July 2018 and he was signed onto the Specialist Employability Support programme (or SES for short). When he first started to engage with his Employment Advisor, Gaynor, Josh explained about his lack of confidence in his ability to attain paid work.  Josh has a lovely personality and was always immaculately dressed but was lacking in confidence and self-belief. Josh advised that during his past work experiences he had not had one-to-one support to help him build relationships and be able to be confident in his abilities to do a job properly. At the end of every placement, he was not offered any paid work which contributed to feeling low about his employability. Through weekly sessions with Gaynor, an honest and trusted relationship was built.    Over time Josh’s confidence grew and at this point, Josh continued his journey with ELITE by being referred to our Employer Engagement Officer, Amanda. This enabled Josh to talk openly about how he felt and tell Gaynor what his real interests were – film and cinema was mentioned several times…

Amanda got to work engaging with various cinema companies around the Cardiff area until a vacancy became available at the Odeon Cinema in Cardiff’s Red Dragon Centre. The manager of The Odeon, Nick Price, agreed to meet ELITE discussing how he and his organisation could play a vital role in supporting participants and their journey into sustainable employment.  When meeting Nick it became evident, he and his team were highly supportive and wanted to participate in ELITE’s journey, in giving suitable candidates the opportunity to show their abilities in the working environment. During his interview; Josh shined through with his knowledge of films and the previous work experience he could transfer into this role. He was offered a 6-week placement as a Cinema Host!

This is what Josh had to say on his journey into employment:

“Before I started working and visiting ELITE, my confidence wasn’t the greatest. But after many appointments with ELITE, my confidence slowly started to grow. When I was put on the 6-week work experience with Odeon, I felt a bit nervous but also optimistic and excited to be working for them. After a short while, my confidence really started improving and I started interacting with the guests. After the 6 weeks have passed, I was offered the part time job and that made my confidence grow. At first, I thought it was only for the Christmas season. But then, at some point during December, I was finally told that I’ve got the permanent position at Odeon. I was over the moon about this. I really felt like I have accomplished something.”

Seeing Josh 8 months on working independently with success, confidence and precision, really shows how the supported employment modules around job coaching work! With a structured employment plan and gradual withdrawal from our Employment Advisor Gaynor, Josh has shown he has the capabilities to sustain and succeed in such a role… the added bonus of seeing the latest films isn’t a bad work perk either!

Josh’s Odeon name-tag includes Transformers (the 1984 version) in case you were wondering!