Skills Support for the Workforce
Rachel works as an Admin Office Supervisor at Pacific West Foods and her role involves supervising a small team. Rachel's goal was to become a better, more efficient leader, so she jumped at the chance to undertake funded training in leadership and management as part of the Skills Support for the Workforce programme.
Rachel works for Pacific West Foods, one of the largest global seafood suppliers of raw and value-added seafood based in the South West of England. Pacific West Foods has been actively providing seafood for the past two decades, supplying to restaurants, pubs and hotel sectors, plus foodservice distributors and wholesalers.
After being approached by her manager, Rachel jumped at the chance to undertake a qualification in leadership and management. Rachel’s goal was to become a better, more efficient leader and she wanted a certificate to back-up her hardwork.
Rachel had not completed any training courses for several years before starting her ILM Management journey, so had to overcome the difficulties of getting back into the flow of studying:
"I was nervous and lacked confidence, especially with having not done any studying in a long time. Time management was also a concern, I had to complete the course within the three month timescale on top of my daily tasks at work."
The training was carried out by Wiltshire College & University Centre, which is part of Serco’s network of expert organisations chosen to deliver the SSW programme.
SSW is a programme developed to upskill employees within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and is co-financed by the European Social Fund and the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
First Rachel achieved the Level 2 ILM Certificate in Leadership and Team Skills qualification, and then progressed onto a Level 3 ILM Leadership and Management Award qualification.
The courses helped Rachel to gain a better understanding of leadership as well as an undeniable confidence.
Rachel’s Manager, Lisa Semple said:
“Having been away from education for the best part of 20 years Rachel was initially nervous about returning to learning. After submitting her first assessment and getting great feedback this gave her the confidence to really embrace the course, and she should feel very proud of the qualifications she achieved.”
Completing the qualification gave Rachel a satisfying feeling of self-achievement and confidence to move on to the next level and even consider more training as she liked the flexibility of the training. For Rachel, the biggest benefit was acheiving an end of course certificate which she can add to her CV.
