Graham's Story

GRAHAM’S STORY

ROYAL LOGISTICS CORPS VETERAN BENEFITS FROM LIFEWORKS

Our Inititative of the Year award was collected by Graham, a Royal Logistics Corp veteran from South Wales, who has recently found work through our LifeWorks program.

After serving 15 years, reaching the rank of Corporal and qualifying as a chef, Graham left the Army after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and PTSD.

He found work in catering but then also developed arthritis in his ankles, which made doing a job that requires standing for long periods very painful.

Having been furloughed at the start of the pandemic Graham became fearful of returning to catering work due to his physical condition.

By October 2020 Graham had applied for over 20 jobs without hearing back, which he found incredibly demoralising.

“I was in a dark place having struggled with PTSD for some time. I was finding it very hard to find a job during the pandemic.”

Graham worked with the LifeWorks team on his CV and interview preparation, as well as looking for roles that would suit him perfectly.

A Tenancy Support Officer role became available, which sounded interesting but was totally out of Graham’s comfort zone, having never done that type of work before. LifeWorks helped him prepare and two weeks after applying he got an offer for an interview.

“I had an email from the Managing Director of the company to say that over 250 people had applied for this job with some very strong candidates. They had then been narrowed down to 46 and then 12 were taken to interview and I was one of them!”

The interview lasted for about an hour and he walked out feeling confident. Two days later he had the call. He was offered the job!

“Going from over 20 applications to not even getting an interview, I have been offered this job that before the course I would not have even applied for. So again I would like to say a BIG thank you and here's to my new job as a Tenancy Support Officer.”

Congratulations Graham!