Lara* is a graduate who was a ‘casualty of the recession’.  After finishing a degree in Planning, she found she could not get any related work and so moved back to her small rural home town and worked in a bookmakers.  Lara knew this wasn’t what she wanted to do but didn’t know how to pursue a new career.  An advert on Gumtree changed all that.

Lara successfully negotiated a couple of tough interviews to land the Community Learning internship, an exciting voluntary opportunity with the Community Learning team at Vital Regeneration.  Lara was particularly excited about learning new IT skills and working with children.

Before joining Vital Regeneration Lara suffered from a lack of confidence, but after moving back to London and getting involved in various projects, her confidence grew, and her employability soared.

Lara came to Vital Regeneration wanting to be a Town Planner; she left to become a Teaching Assistant.  Vital Regeneration gave Lara the opportunity to explore options that she said she would not have otherwise considered.  She was given the chance to get involved in Play Space, an innovative healthy lifestyle project that works with 5 to 11 year olds.  This involved her working in a school environment, and assisting with teaching duties.  She soon realised that she would like to be involved in education in some way.

Lara's internship varied from hands on support tutoring, to research, to providing office administrative support.  All of her experiences were crucial and she has left Vital Regeneration to go on to study for a PGCE in order to become a qualified school teacher.

Lara thoroughly enjoyed her time at Vital Regeneration and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to develop skills and gain experience.

* Name has been changed to ensure anonymity.