I'll help get you hired! (2024)

Byline: Catherine Lillington

APPRENTICE finalist Ruth Badger will be using some of the star quality that impressed Sir Alan Sugar to mentor our eight readers who are looking for work.

The 31-year-old, from Wolverhampton, will provide the group with interview training and newlook

CVs to help them hear the words "you're hired". Ruth will work one-to-one with them, giving her expertise for free. All the services she will offer are available at The Ruth Badger Academy, which she has just launched.

She said: "This is a very sensitive area for me. These are people from an area that matters most to me in the country..

"My aspiration and dedication is to work as hard as I can with each individual to get them the right job first time.

"I can't think of a better place to do this than in the Midlands where I was born and bred. Out of all the areas in the country the Midlands is one of the worst hit, which is why we've agreed to work with each individual."

Rut h alon 38-y com back "We recr real no h tell thin uth has made the commitment ng with her business partner year-old Julie Hughes, who mes from a HR and training kground.

e are real employers who ruit real people and help lpeople," said Ruth. "There's hidden agenda because we'll you what employers actually nk. Between us we have interviewed thousands and thousands of people and probably employed more than 400 in our years of experience." Ruth, who owns three businesses, was picked from more than 10,000 applicants to appear on the hit reality show in 2006.

She competed against 13 others in challenges which included working on the sales floor at Top

Shop, selling new innovations to the trade, letting flats and designing a charity calendar for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

At the end of the 12 weeks, Ruth was pipped to the six-figure salaried job by telecoms consultant Michelle Dewberry.

For more information about The Ruth Badger Academy go on-line to www.ruthbadgeracademy.com

Ruth Badger..

PAUL HENSTOCK

PAUL worked as a manager at a company which supplied General Motors in America.

The 37-year-old, who is married with three children and lives in Northfield, was made redundant from Coventry-based Cov Press, in January.

At first Paul was looking for jobs he would normally expect to go for but has since had to widen his search, which has knocked his confidence.

He said he had also received no feedback from the interviews he's been to and little response from vacancies he's applied for.

He said: "I heard back from Morrisons who are the first people to send a letter. It was telling me they haven't got vacancies at the moment. It was almost a boost. I thought at least somebody's looked at it and took the time to send a letter back." He said his experience of the job centre has been disappointing and he won't be eligible for the training he wants until he has been unemployed for six months.

He said: "There just doesn't seem to be any help.

"A lot of my friends were working at Longbridge when that collapsed.

A lot of help was out there for those people."

RON HICKERTON

RON thought his job as a site manager in construction was safe.

He said of his redundancy: "It was a shock. I thought I was working in an industry that would never collapse the way it has." The 60-year-old, from Kings Heath, worked for Chase Midland but lost his job when the firm went into administration, in July.

Since then he has struggled to find a new job and is looking outside his usual type of work.

After leaving school at 16, Ron took an apprenticeship with Bryant in brick-laying and then moved up to become a site manager.

He said: "When it actually happens and you're made redundant you've still got it in your head you just have to try and stay within that sector. Of course, as the months have gone on and the situation gets worse I can see I'm probably wasting my time trying to apply for jobs that are just not out there.

"I'm starting to look at anything, but when you've been in a job with some responsibility, it's dif- ficult. You try and look for a job that's reasonably paid. That's how I spend my days now. To have to go on to Jobseeker's Allowance is a shock and something I haven't experienced before."

BRIAN MARTIN

PLUMBING jobs dried up for 47-year-old Brian with the drop in construction work.

Brian, from Castle Vale, found himself jobless last October and thought something else would turn up in a matter of days.

The plumber and pipe-fitter of more than 28 years, said: "It's all gone pear-shaped because of the lack of spending on construction." But Brian said it was as if the jobs he has applied for on the Jobcentre Plus website are "fictitious" because he has heard nothing in return. He said: "That is what it seems like. I have had no response at all from the job centre nor any of the agencies advertising on there." He normally works on jobs for six months and at the fifth month lines up something to move on to.

"I've always been able to find work. I don't like to idle," he said.

At the moment Brian is working on a month-long contract he found through word of mouth but it is not enough to pay the bills and he expects to go back onto jobseeker's allowance soon.

His wife Christine, who he described as his "rock", is also off work with Meniere's disease. She hopes to return to her job as a packer as soon as she can..

ALISON BERRILL

ALISON first went into engineering as a schoolgirl and has worked in the industry since she left at 16 to become an apprentice with Land Rover.

Now 20 years later, Alison is jobless for the first time ever and considering a change of career.

She was made redundant from TRW Electronics, in Perry Barr, and has applied for Jobseeker's

Allowance, w for new work.

lives in Dud find myself feeling like a so frustrated with all the r you have to banks and pa "I can't beli ily these com their back o never missin or ever being while looking . Alison, who dley, said: "I depressed, a failure and d, especially red tape that complete in aying bills.

eve how easmpanies turn on you after ng a payment g out of work before. I hope that I will eventually tell a story where my life has turned around and I am positive about my future." Her experiences so far include being locked out of the citizens' advice office in Dudley. She said there were so many people asking for help inside - any more were considered a health and safety risk..

JENNIFER JAMES

THIS is the sixth redundancy in Jennifer's life, but she said this time is different with so many more people like her looking for work.

The 59-year-old, from Wylde Green, worked as a PA for a city accountant and had hoped to continue working for two years.

Jennifer loved her job, liked the people she worked with and wanted to stay. It was a demanding role and she had mastered a steep learning curve towards the end of a career spent working in financial services.

After she lost her job she said: "Initially I was shell- shocked, I didn't know what to do with myself.

This job was one I enjoyed, it was like a community.

"It's a horrible feeling, it was the best job I ever had.

I feel like I've been thrown on the scrap-heap and it knocks your confidence." Jennifer is now looking for a part-time job and is willing to learn new skills to get it, but overall she wants to take a step back from her previous pace.

Since accepting voluntary redundancy last December, Jennifer has joined recruitment agencies, applied for about 50 jobs and been for two job interviews..

AARON GREGSON

AARON, aged 36 and from Redditch, feels he is getting nowhere since he lost his job as a client manager at a firm of accountants.

Despite applying for jobs fetching a salary below his previous wage, he said he either gets no reply or is told he is "too quali- fied".

Aaron lost his job last October after four years with the company, before that he had worked in banking for ten years up to the level of business manager.

He said: "I applied to work as a Jobcentre Plus adviser and didn't even get an interview despite 15 years' experience in customer service and being educated to degree level.

"I chase agencies but it gets to the stage where they no longer return your calls as they have nothing to offer." Aaron has now built up a "defence mechanism" in his search for work.

He said: "Subconsciously you think 'if I don't get this job it's not the end of the world'.

"You go through denial at the start and you think you'll be able to get another job. Then I was very low." He is now considering retraining as a teacher in September..

CHRIS DEAN

CHRIS is hoping to start a new chapter in his working life after losing his job at a city centre book store, which closed down last May.

The 23-year-old, who has a degree in English and creative writing, worked at Bookends, in the Pallasades, for 18 months from when it opened as a temporary shop.

Just months after he left university, he said he was "thrown in at the deep end," spending most of the time running the store.

Despite regulars coming in - some up to three or four times a week - he found out the shop was closing when would-be buyers called.

Chris, who lives in Solihull, said: "I was there even before the shelves were brought in and did really enjoy the job." When it comes to finding new work, he is falling down because he is either over-qualified or lacking in training.

Despite securing a number of interviews he said: "Every time you fail to get something, it gets a little more disheartening.

"I seem to be under or over-qualified.

I've been asked do I have a problem with working under a manager?"

DENNIS RODWAY

AFTER more than three decades in work, Dennis lost his job in the automotive trade as the economic downturn hit.

The 50-year-old, from Great Barr, was employed as a manufacturing manager with W H Smith & Sons (Tools), in Minworth, supplying second tier parts to Toyota.

He's had his CV professionally re-done and looked at re-training, in the knowledge he is up against so many more people for every vacancy advertised.

Dennis, who has been out of work since last December, said: "This is the first time I've been unemployed in 30 years and it's a real shock." Normally he would go for roles to suit his strengths as a manager, but feels the only kind of role left would be as a hatchet man.

He added: "If you've got any predetermined ideas of getting a position which is the same or better you have to throw them out the window.

"As bad as it was when I started work in the late 1970s and early 80s, it never felt like this.

"This shows no sign of getting any better. People who are saying it will last for one or two years are in for a shock."

CAPTION(S):

Ruth Badger.