KUDIELELA’S STORY
P E T-X i C A S E S T U DY Kudielela Santana had been a self-employed business consultant working with SMEs in Portuguese-speaking countries for over 10 years. When the pandemic hit, she found herself out of work, homeless and unable to afford to live in London, so moved in with her cousin in Coventry with her two young children. She was referred to PET-Xi by Coventry Job Shop which was unable to offer employment support due to her not having a permanent fixed address.
Support provided by PET-Xi Kudielela was referred to PET-Xi Recruitment and Progressions Co-Ordinator Charlotte Briscoe who signed her up to the Step-Up Programme, which aims to help Coventry residents who are facing barriers move into employment. After hearing more about Kudielela’s situation, Charlotte first wanted to help her find temporary accommodation so referred her to the Shaw Trust to support with this. The organisation subsequently referred Kudielela to Wise Ability which allocated her a support worker who found emergency accommodation with a view of helping to secure a permanent residence. Charlotte then went on to find out more about Kudielela’s skillset and her passion to help others experiencing difficulties. Charlotte said: “It was clear that Kudielela wanted a role where she could help people, so when a mentoring position became available at Wise Ability I knew she’d be the perfect candidate. “I was able to help her prepare for the interview and she did extremely well and was successful in gaining the role. “When I first spoke to Kudielela she was very emotional and it was clear she was in an extremely difficult situation.