Unemployed adults have been encouraged to gain new skills while they are in between jobs.
David Coulson suffers from dyspraxia, a learning disability that also affects his motor skills, and spent months searching for a job without success.
Speaking to the Mirror, he said employment became even more difficult to find once the global economic slump began.
This, he stated, prompted him to look at how he could enhance his CV and ensure he used his time spent out of work productively.
Mr Coulson's efforts paid off, as he managed to get a job after signing up to learn new skills.
He praised his voluntary activities for helping to boost his confidence and enable him to stay active while he was unemployed.
Mr Coulson commented: "I couldn't face the prospect of doing nothing all day.
"I could feel myself getting more and more depressed."
He added that learning new skills could help unemployed people make their CV stand out from those of other job applicants.
Mr Coulson urged those who are struggling to find full-time employment to take similar steps, saying: "You might find your dream job too."
Unemployment in the UK has now risen to 2.47 million, although hopes that the British economy may be picking up were recently dashed by the Office for National Statistics.
Figures published by the organisation showed that between July and September 2009, the economy contracted by 0.4 per cent.
This means that the current recession is the longest since records began more than 50 years ago.
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