Having been unemployed for over 10 years Emmanuelle was ready for a change so when a JCP adviser at Rushey Green mentioned an upcoming course that promised entry into the catering and hospitality sector he jumped at an opportunity to secure a place.
Starting on 10th February 2016, the Pathway to Work in Catering & Hospitality course (PWICH) was delivered by training company Elevating Success UK. As a JCP-funded programme it had a strict eligibility criteria that targeted lone parents, Work Programme Completers and the over 50s. At 51 years young, Emmanuelle was eligible to start the programme and he (and 10 others) commenced training in early February and completed his studies on 4th March 2016.
“This course was an absolute Godsend,” Emmanuelle says of his experience. “If you’d said to me you’d go on a course and you’d be working after – I’d have said ‘no way’”, but that is exactly what happened. A successful work placement as a Kitchen Assistant in the third week of the course led to a job offer as a Trainee Chef. On 22nd March 2016 Emmanuelle became a part of the catering team based at a primary school in Lewisham. Having spent years not feeling part of any team, he finally feels as though he belongs. “When you haven’t worked for a long time you have the luxury of complaining. But when you’re working you just have to pick yourself up and get on with it. I love the intensity of it, I love the speed, I love that we don’t get to sit down and eat our lunch standing up, and what I really love is that it finishes early!”
Written March 2016