Sultana goes back to school to boost job hopes

Sultana Uddin is a class act, after going back to school to boost her employment prospects.

The 20-year-old left college with good qualifications to pursue a career in office administration. It was only when she decided to concentrate on accountancy work that she realised her GCSEs at grades A to C and further qualifications in computing were not suited to getting her the job she wanted.

That was when she took the difficult decisions to leave full-time work and go back into study to gain an NVQ level 2 in Business Administration.

With the support of apprenticeship training funded by the Learning and Skills Council North East (LSC), Sultana enrolled with Durham Business Club at Chester-le-Street to undertake her NVQ Level 2 training and further improve her office and clerical skills.

For the apprenticeship, she was placed with Thermal Resources Management (TRM), at the Wear Industrial Estate, Washington, carrying out sales and admin assistant’s duties while pursuing her vocational course and gained her NVQ in Business Admin within 6 months of starting the training.

Sultana, of Hilda Park, Chester-le-Street, said: “It took a lot of encouragement from my family to go back into learning but now I have my NVQ and it has given me more options.

“I am now improving my skills on Sage programmes to work towards my ambition of one day becoming an accountant. I am also considering going on to study NVQ Level 3 in Accountancy or Business Administration.”

David Parker, commercial manager of TRM, said: “We have always encouraged trainees in an admin assistant role and Sultana has proved a real asset.

“Two of our full-time staff came through the Business Club and we also have two trainees working in the warehouse. It provides an excellent route into employment.”

TRM manufactures heating products, elements and temperature instrumentation for the industrial and commercial sector, supplying installers.

Chris Roberts, Regional Director of LSC North East, said: “The financial assistance available to employers through LSC enables vocational training to take place in the workplace.

"Monitoring and assessment of the trainees can be provided to smaller companies that don’t have large HR departments. It is a ‘win win’ situation – the employer gains an apprentice or trainee who is usually highly motivated and the learner gains the qualifications needed to improve their employment prospects.”

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