Meet Paulette

In our latest where are they now series we caught up with Paulette.

Tell us about yourself

My working life started with the Crown Prosecution Service, in admin, and I was there for quite a long time. Back then it was very easy to change your job, I started working for the NHS purchasing and supply agency. I was there for about 13 years and then moved into web development. I was a web development project manager and the role was really enjoyable, but then at the time the NHS decided to change how they were going to do their purchasing. So that was handed over to their own local authorities so because it was going to be dissolved I went for voluntary redundancy.

What brought you to the course? 

After taking redundancy I had my youngest child and dipped in and out of helping out different charities, but it was in a bit of an aimless way. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do next, if I was going to get back into work or stay at home. Once my daughter started going to school, I started to feel a bit left behind - I suddenly had time during the day and I missed meeting people and problem solving. 

How did you find out about Digital Gum?

My partner had spotted the Digital Gum post on LinkedIn and shared it with me. I just thought from the way it sounded and the way it came across it would brush-up my technical skills and was perfect for people who had been out of work for some time, or looking to change direction. I wanted to learn something new and it just grabbed me - I thought that this is exactly what I need to help me work out what to do next. 

How did you feel day one? 

I remember the night before the course being incredibly nervous. Who else was going to be on the course, what am I going to be asked to do. At the same time as being quite nervous I remember there was also excitement. I remember coming into the building and then into the actual office and I remember thinking, Wow, this looks really cool.

From then on in, and seeing all the other people and you could see everyone was sort of a bit nervous and didn't know what to expect. But the energy coming from Louize who is very friendly, open and relaxed quickly eased everyone. That really helped, I calmed down and a feeling of excitement took over. And when I started the first day of my new, I brought in the pencil case and the notepad. Just as a little reminder to myself to keep positive, I can do this is it's all going to be fine. 

Now you’ve had time to reflect what was the biggest benefit of going on the course?

Looking back, we covered so much and I'm still using a lot of what I learnt and it was definitely instrumental in getting me the job that I have now.

I enjoyed all of the social media training and using LinkedIn which is really helping me now during lockdown. I've noticed a lot of businesses are starting to look at how they communicate so I'm going back over what we did on the course about LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and looking at how you communicate with people on those mediums. The customer avatar exercise has been really helpful, because I've realised without that you can't really go forward with your communication effectively. 

How did you feel about the pitch back to the charity?

I don’t mind admitting I was dreading the presentations, I was dreading it because I thought I can't do that. It's been so long since I've had to present anything, I don't think I can do it anymore. But the lovely way in which everyone was supporting each other, it was just such a nice experience. Working as a team again was really good - I think that's amazing. 

I had gone from thinking “I can't do this, I really don't want to do it but I'm just going to try but shrink as small as possible” to afterwards feeling a massive sense of achievement. It reminded me that I can ask people for help if I'm feeling nervous. Working with our charity Reading Refugee Organisation put me on the track of thinking about working for a charity, because I want to get back to work. 

Tell us about your experience on the course, what did you learn? Any take-aways to share?

My main motivation for job hunting wasn’t money, it was more I want to do what I would enjoy doing. There was the part in the course where we covered about when you go for an interview - do your homework beforehand. What really stuck in my head was  “look at what you could offer them, don't be afraid or shy to tell them about what you can offer”. I knew that you should advertise your past skills but not in the way of doing your homework and offering them something different and something new. I think that approach really helped get me the job that I've got now. 

Were you one of the students who did their homework straight away or the night before? 

I was one of those students who always tried to do their homework straight away. I always remember from school, do it as soon as you get home, because it's all still in your head. It was helpful because there were always lots of examples, so it was easy to step back into it. Even now going back through my notes they are still really helpful because of the way things were presented. I think there's nothing worse than you going on a course and then putting the notebook in the drawer and you never go back to it again. 

What are you up to now?

I now work for Resolve Mediation, a charity that provides mediation services in Berkshire and Oxfordshire. We work with young people in family mediation, dealing with neighbour mediation & conflict and and all those sorts of things. I work as a caseworker, everyone who works for Resolve goes through the mediation training so you can fully understand what the actual mediators who go out and meet the people do. And as well as doing the case work I'm also helping with the website, and I'm going to be looking more into their social media. 

How has lock-down been for you?

The transition to home working during lockdown has been really smooth. Luckily, our manager always works a couple of steps ahead. So when this started she started putting things into place all the IT support we needed. So we were able to take all of our equipment home, including our work phone.

As well as working, I’m homeschooling my two younger children. My son is 15 and they're using Google classrooms and that seems to be working well. My youngest is 7 so we've been using a mix of things, and with her it's been really hands on for me to get involved. The school has been really good, they have a morning registration, and then a lunchtime catch up and sort of storytime at the end. All the children log on and they can all see each other and they can see the teacher. So that's been really nice to sort of keep the continuity and the relationship going there. My oldest is at the University of Southampton and decided to just stay in Southampton, to carry on with the work that she has and she finds it easier to concentrate there. My work has been really understanding about the homeschooling commitments so I haven’t felt any pressure there. 

With four of us in the house we each have all created zones where we're working. I thought I could learn how to crochet, or things like that, but then, as it's gone on, I’ve found that my days fill up enough with work and homeschooling. 

Are you taking any time at the minute to learn new things? 

I'm taking time in lockdown to refresh on social media marketing. I've used the future learn platform, they've got a collection of short courses that are to do with supporting mental health in lockdown. It is however quite hard to study the minute. At the beginning of lockdown I was going to do so many things, take care of the world and paint - I was buying lots of creative kits mainly all now sat unfinished or un-opened.