March
Ian Chambers
When Ian Chambers left his job as administrative position at a mail order company to work closer to home, he realised his computer skills needed to be updated. Although Ian had used a computer in his role, he used an in-house system and lacked practical experience using office computer packages that other companies demanded.
Stephen Bunting
Stephen decided to return to study and signed up to learndirect in order to gain the skills he needed to improve his job prospects.
Samantha Kemp
Samantha Kemp, 41 from Framlingham Earl, Norfolk, has had a number of different job roles, including riding instructor, stationary sales representative, pet-sitter, PA and a customer services assistant. However, after the sudden death of her father, Samantha suffered from depression. She then discovered that a lack of formal qualifications was stopping her from finding new employment. Samantha signed up to learndirect so that she could get the qualifications she needed to help her find a new job.
Becky Daniels
Daniels, 28 from Newcastle upon Tyne, had always wanted to become a nurse. After leaving school with no formal qualifications however, and having a family at a young age, she did not have the necessary qualifications to apply for university. Despite this setback, Becky remained determined to find her dream job, so she signed up with learndirect.
Susan MacGregor
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.
Sharon Hallas
Sharon Hallas, a 33-year-old mother-of-three from Manchester, worked as a dinner lady and events steward before stopping work to look after her children full-time. When her eldest son was at primary school, Sharon found she didn't have the maths skills to help him with things like multiplication and division.
Amy Parry
Amy Parry, 25, is a single parent from Portsmouth. She was advised by her local Jobcentre Plus to enrol on learndirect courses to give both herself and her daughter a better chance in life. She took literacy, numeracy and IT courses and then an NVQ in Business Administration. Thanks to Amy's new skills and qualifications she was able to find herself permanent employment as an administrator.
Angela Lee
Angela believes that the skills she has gained this year with learndirect have improved her employment prospects.
Shazia Afzal
Shazia Afzal, 33 from Luton, is a mother of three children under nine years old. She left school at a young age without completing her GCSEs and moved abroad. When she returned to England and started a family, Shazia decided to go back to learning with learndirect to improve her skills so that she would be able to help her children with their school work.
Vicky Nelson
Vicky has worked tirelessly to identify suitable learning opportunities for employees at Tesco, and was recently recognised for her efforts at the learndirect Achievement Awards.