Mickey Sargent started with Oakleaf Commercial Services (part of The Community Housing Group) in May 2014, as a carpentry apprentice within the Development team, after successfully completing an Employability Skills programme run by Vestia, the Group’s training arm.
Mickey was thrilled when he was told he had got the job and after nearly five months with Oakleaf, he is really enjoying the fact that he is earning money and learning new skills at the same time. Since then he has enrolled at college which he is really enjoying.
Prior to starting with Oakleaf, he had been in and out of work for the last 3 years, doing a variety of jobs within the construction industry and living alone, he was struggling with money and day-to-day life. Mickey knew of TCHG and Oakleaf as he had previously worked on some of their sites, as well as being a resident. So when he heard about the Apprenticeship and the Employability programme through Jobcentre Plus, believed this would be his chance to get a stable career with a good company.
Mickey commented: “The programme really helped me; my CV was updated and improved and I received help with the application form for the apprenticeship as well as the chance to practice my interview skills. All of this made me much more confident at the interview. I also got the chance to do some work experience as part of the course; this made me even more certain that carpentry was the career path I wanted to follow.
“Although money is still tight, I know that I am working towards a career and a more stable future. The help and support I have received from TCHG and Vestia has been amazing, I can’t thank them enough for this opportunity.”
Ian Hancock, Managing Director for Oakleaf Commercial Services, said: “This valuable programme has supplied us with yet another successful apprentice for the Oakleaf Development team. As a business for social purpose, a key objective for TCHG is to create employment and apprenticeships to support our local economy. Our apprentice programme enables us to help tackle youth unemployment in our communities, whilst meeting the needs of our business.
“We are proud of the compassionate learning environment that we have been able to create, whilst ensuring the standards required of our workforce to deliver quality services to our customers are achieved and TCHG corporate objectives met.”
For more information about Vestia and their Employability Skills programme visit:
https://www.vestia.org.uk/training/overview.php
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