Alex's story | My Brighter Futures journey

I've been a tenant of Progress Housing Group for five years. My experience with Progress has been great (the size of the house is much better for me and my family). As well as being a tenant, I've also had the opportunity to work at the Group through the Brighter Futures project, which aims to provide paid work placements for tenants to help support them in their careers. This is how my Brighter Futures journey started:

My previous employment as a school Teaching Assistant / Welfare Assistant ended in March 2023, and I was left unemployed. So, I contacted the Job Centre for help moving forward into a different career.

The Job Centre signposted me to Progress Futures on the same day (as they knew I was a tenant of Progress Housing Group) and later, I met my Progress Futures job coach - a lovely lady called Cathy Fleet. We discussed my CV and which job roles I would like to look for. I met with her weekly and attended the Progress Futures job club in Leyland.

Cathy showed me the advert for the role of Talent Administrator within the Recruitment Team at Progress, which was part of the Group's Brighter Futures six-month placement scheme, and she helped me fill out the application form. I felt nervous because it had been over ten years since I had been through an application process for a new job. Things had changed a lot in ten years, so it was completely different from when I applied for my job at the school. We sent it off with our fingers crossed. 

After a nervous wait, I was happy to receive the interview invite for the Talent Administrator role. I met with Cathy, and we went through the interview questions. I made notes to take to the interview with me - just in case my mind went blank (as it often does!).

I'm not going to lie; I was nervous heading in for the interview, but I was welcomed to Leyland House by Matt Bottomley (Recruitment Administrator), who was lovely and very friendly, and this helped put my mind at ease.

I met Sarah Clark (the Talent Acquisition Lead) in the interview. She was also lovely, and the interview was more like a friendly chat, which helped me relax. I felt comfortable, and when I left, I felt confident and happy that I had done enough. When I received the call from Sarah offering me the job, I was overjoyed - I accepted the role and met with Cathy to go through the rest of the recruitment process.

Finally, on 3 October 2023, I had my first day working in the Recruitment Team. Everyone I met was warm and friendly. 

I have been part of the People and Culture Team for four months now, and I feel I have grown more and more confident. I'm still learning about different parts of the organisation, but I absolutely love this job and the team I work with. 

Working closely with Matt and learning about the recruitment process has been an eye-opener! A LOT of information is needed just to get enough together to post an advert!

I have also been working with a student from Project SEARCH through our partnership with Runshaw College - this has allowed me to use the training and experience I gained working with SEND children back when I worked in schools.

I have learnt so much in my time here:

• Creating the adverts that go out onto the job boards.
• Contacting the hiring managers and getting any information needed to complete the whole process, from request to onboarding.
• Attending daily and monthly meetings.
• Getting to know the wider teams within the Group.

Working from home was very strange at first as I did prefer to be in the office. But I have now gotten used to the hybrid way of working and created a little home office in the corner of my dining room. It does have its distractions, but you learn to manage your time. 

This role has been a real chance for me to grow and develop professionally, supported by Cathy's invaluable coaching and Matt's support and guidance in the role."