Susan MacGregor, 39 from Berwick-upon-Tweed, is a single
mum of two. Working part-time in a sun-tanning shop, she decided that
she wanted to improve her career prospects and gain some formal
qualifications. After hearing about learndirect from a
friend, Susan decided to sign up to learndirect courses
in English and IT to work towards obtaining a new job.
Susan said:
"Now that my children Kelly who is 16 and Shane who is 14 are older, I wanted to do something for me. A friend of mine recommended that I look into doing some courses with learndirect and so I arranged to speak with one of the tutors about the options available to me. The tutor was so friendly and helpful so I decided to sign up to a course in literacy.
"At first I was worried I wouldn't be able to do the courses. I was nervous that I would be too old to learn but I soon realised that this wasn't the case. The support on offer with learndirect has been brilliant - the tutors are always there to answer any questions and motivate you to keep going. The flexible learning at learndirect also allowed me to juggle my learning and family life, which was great."
After a year of learning with learndirect, Susan was able to update her CV and start applying for new jobs.
She said:
"Every time I received another certificate I felt a huge sense of achievement. I improved my English skills and got my certificate in Level 1 CLAiT which I was so pleased about. This gave me the confidence to start applying for the types of jobs that in the past, I'd never thought I would have got. I decided to apply for a job as an administration assistant at an accountancy firm and out of the 45 people who applied I got the job. I was over the moon and was so proud of what I'd managed to achieve. I've now been working as an administration assistant since December and hope that my qualifications will help me to continue to progress up the career ladder towards my dream job."