New skills lead to employment for South Wales couple
A couple who recently moved to Wales from South Africa, have found employment after returning to learning and updating their IT skills with online learning provider learndirect and training provider Acom Business UK.
Patricia Street, originally from Wales, and her partner, James Fyfe, moved to Wales last year and decided to get up to speed with technology in preparation for a job search.
Both have completed a number for IT courses with online learning provider learndirect and have enhanced their employment prospects as a result.
James has now been appointed to a permanent post within a market research
company. He said:
"Building my skills with learndirect boosted my confidence to secure career
advancement and undoubtedly made me a better skilled candidate to prospective
employers. I have previously gained experience in programming and systems analysis
in mainframe computers but as I have never operated PCs as they are used in
today's business world began with an introduction to computers course.
"My new job involves interviewing people on a daily basis and I am required to record their personal views onto a database on my laptop. My new IT skills are essential for the efficient performance of my duties and have enabled me to carry out these tasks with confidence and I am thoroughly enjoying the work."
Patricia used computers daily in her previous local government job in South Africa. She commented:
"Technology changes so quickly that one really needs to refresh skills constantly to keep up to date. After visiting our local learning centre at Acom in Pyle, we discovered that learndirect courses would give us the flexibility to learn a range of new skills in our own time and at our convenience. E-learning is an ideal solution for the thousands of individuals who need to fit learning around other commitments. It greatly facilitated James in getting up to speed very quickly and is proving a great way for me to improve my IT skills in my own time."
Head of learndirect in Wales, Jeff Greenidge said: "I.T. skills are increasingly important in the job market and learndirect offers a relatively inexpensive way for individuals to obtain new skills in a flexible manner. Our learning network offers a comprehensive support system for learners, allowing individuals to build up confidence whilst developing new skills. I wish James the best of luck with his new job and hope that both he and Patricia continue to develop their skills with learndirect."
