Toma has high education in biology, but after finalising her studies in Vytautas Magnus University, she never worked in this sphere.
Toma is unemployed for 8 years already, as she takes care of her family. She has two young children. Toma would like to return to labour marked again, as she has experience of working in services sphere.
During her job search, Toma realized that she did not know how to present herself and did not have proper CV. During job interviews she had lack of self-confidence, knowledge and skills needed to deal with the interview situation, so it was really important for her to increase these skills: the ability to communicate effectively and present herself in a proper way to increase her chances to get the job. ’I think that good preparation for the job interview is the key to success because you should market yourself for potential employer. A job interview is a crucial step towards real possibility of getting the job you want, thus you have to prepare yourself in advance and be well - presented if you wish to make a positive impression at an interview’.
Her friend suggested to attend the JOB-YES non-formal training course. Toma expected to gain skills in how to present herself properly, establish interpersonal relationships, use appropriate body language. She also expected to learn to write a proper CV and cover letter.
When Toma started the non-formal JOB-YES training course she realised that ‘facilitators and students were very friendly. I really enjoyed the courses and the environment: convenient location, comfortable premises, and innovative learning resources. I could learn at home in a spare time, to concentrate on tasks and later to discuss results with others in classes. I always felt support of facilitator and colleagues. Important discussion about relevant employment issues took place.’
Answering the question ‘What did she like most?’, Toma said: ‘In my opinion, the best online tool is Self-need analysis. For me it was useful to evaluate my competences and to get the feedback about the level of my competences and skills as well as which competences and skills I had to develop/improve.’ In her opinion, the information on importance of the competence in job searching and range of skills was new and interesting.
The most important part - JOB-YES exercises online. Toma realized her mistakes in the job interview and learned a lot of new things that were really useful for her in job search and in the future job: ‘Exercises are various and developing different skills, the tasks are involving.’
By filling Knowledge Portfolio Toma collected her competences and soft skills obtained through lifelong learning process during formal, non-formal, and informal learning: ‘it was completely new task to me and, in fact, very useful.’ ‘The Knowledge Portfolio was also very helpful for me in development of my CV’.
During JOB-YES course she also created proper CV, improved computer usage skills. She developed the skills how to accept feedback and constructive criticism, knowledge how to behave in conflict situations, how to work in team, how to function well under pressure and stay result-oriented. Also she realized that punctuality is very important in life.
Toma also began to create her Action Plan and started to think about further steps in job search and self - development.
‘This training course motivated me to be more active in a job search.’
Toma realizes that she need to learn anytime and anywhere. ‘This JOB-YES training course is very useful before searching for the job. It is very good that I can allways find the OERses on different themes in the internet (online) and I can look once again at the themes and find the information that is important for me.’
Toma strongly recommends this JOB-YES course to her friends, relatives, because it's really useful.
As Toma mentioned, she became more confident. She also found new acquaintances during the training course.
She says: - ‘Thanks JOB-YES team for their huge efforts and the work of helping others in life.’
The interview was taken by the facilitator of the training Aušra Variakojienė, Social Innovation Fund.