Jack came to Autism Plus Specialist Employment support whilst completing a placement at the Chocolate Skills Academy, located at Autism Plus Chocolate Factory in Knaresborough. Although already in employment, Jack has been looking for additional part time work to achieve his goal of either working in retail, a café or an office. As part of his journey, Jack decided to sign up to the Chocolate Skills Academy to gain more catering experience and develop new skills. Jack also wished to seek out acquiring more knowledge on finding and applying for work, so that he could gain further employment.
Over four weeks, alongside learning catering skills such as crafting, decorating and packaging handmade chocolate, Jack has received specialist employment support focusing on improving his CV, writing covering letters for job applications and writing a disclosure statement to employers that explains what support he needs to thrive in the workplace.
“It is all interesting, you can pick up new skills that you have not learnt before and adapt them to different situations”
Over the course of the programme, we supported Jack to be able to highlight his skills and strengths, as well as developed a plan of what support Jack might need in the workplace and how he can let employers know. We developed specific goals and actions to help Jack move forward in his job search. Jack now feels more confident applying for jobs than when he started on the programme, as well as feeling confident in editing his CV and covering letters, tailoring them to each specific job he applies for. Jack was also offered a mock interview during his placement and is now progressing onto our Rise2Thrive programme to continue his job search efforts.
