Anne-Kathrin Schmid finished her studies in Germany and then moved to London, but couldn’t find work in her chosen field of social work.  She found it depressing to be unemployed and yet she still had a lot of enthusiasm for what she was trying to achieve.  She also didn’t feel confident in her language skills, so with support from her English teacher she contacted Westminster Works to see if they could help her find a job.

At her first appointment her adviser identified several employment workshops that she could attend.  She also agreed that a volunteer role might be beneficial to help her improve her English skills and to get experience working in the UK.  Anne-Kathrin attended the CV preparation workshop to update her CV as well as an interview techniques workshop.  This helped improve her self-esteem by addressing her interview fears and giving her strategies to feel more relaxed and prepared.  She also attended weekly job clubs; enabling her search for employment.  This made her see that there were other people in the same situation as herself and that someone really cared about her job opportunities.
 
Through the support of the project Anne-Kathrin achieved a placement at the Church Street Library and then progressed into a paid job as a nursery school assistant.  She has now been in employment for over six months and when asked if she would consider recommending Westminster Works to anyone else in her situation she answered,
 
“Absolutely.  It is the best service I’ve known from a council, even from those in Germany.  This is a perfect system to give you real help.  And the people working there are absolutely professional and very, very nice.”