Earlier this year Community member, Stuart Clarke, was made redundant from Barkers Shoes after twenty-five years of working at the company. Stuart’s years at the company and the various roles he held manufacturing quality footwear didn’t require digital skills however, after being made redundant Stuart needed to develop new skills in different areas.
Roy Rickhuss, Community General Secretary, presenting Stuart with his digital skills certificate.
Luckily Stuart attended a series of training workshops on CV and interview skills organised by Community’s learning team for all the staff at Bakers Shoes that had been made redundant. It was during one of these workshops that Stuart explained to our team that he needed some extra help with the course materials and the process of applying to the Department for Work and Pensions because of his dyslexia. Stuart also told us how he didn’t have any digital skills or knowledge and didn’t have access to an email account or mobile phone.
We knew how hard it would be for Stuart to look for jobs without digital skills let alone find new employment. To help Stuart, the learning team set about quickly helping set him up with an email account and getting him access to a learning account where he could access hundreds of courses to develop his digital skills.
After just a few short hours, Stuart had developed a basic digital understanding, learning how to look through jobs pages and getting to grips with how computers work and how much easier they can make your life if you know how to use them.
Getting better digital skills wouldn’t just help Stuart look for new employment, it would help him in his home life too, from using the internet to connect with friends and family to using online banking and accessing government support.
Stuart has now been trained in digital skills and achieved his first ever digital skills certificate from studying through the ‘Learn My Way’ platform.
Stuart now plans to buy his own computer so he can practice his digital skills and look for jobs online. Since Stuart undertook this training, he has also found new employment.
Mick Brightman is Learning Organiser at Community. He has years of experience of providing training and learning and has helped hundreds of people develop their skills over the years.
Find out more about the digital skills courses our Community Learn team can provide here, and sign up to start your journey towards better digital skills today.
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© Community Trade Union 2024