A new job for Holly

Holly started working at Little Gate Farm when she was 19 years old where she has been learning new skills and gaining work experience.

The work training program at Little Gate Farm offers people with learning disabilities and autism the opportunity to gain new skills, work experience and to grow in confidence, through looking after the farm, caring for the animals and working on a horticultural project.

The Farm also have a supported employment team who work with employers and the trainees to find job opportunities and support them as they go into work.

After getting to know Holly and seeing how well she worked, the supported employment team at Little Gate Farm identified an appropriate job for Holly, and in September 2015 she started in a care home in Bexhill as an Activities Assistant.

After six months as an Activities Assistant, Holly had clearly shown her potential and was promoted to be a carer within the care home.

Since then Holly has worked in two different care homes for the same organisation and recently decided to push herself even more and try six weeks work experience in the house keeping department at the Conquest Hospital to gain some new skills.

During her placement, Holly enjoyed working as part of a team, she displayed confidence and used her own initiative. She excelled herself whilst completing all the tasks required within the role and when a vacancy for a paid position was advertised on the NHS website, Holly didn’t hesitate in applying.

Due to barriers, filling out job applications and attending interviews can sometimes be quite tricky when you have a learning disability but Holly applied, attended the interview and answered all the questions with confidence.

Competition was tough, forty other people applied for the same role and Holly was up against six other applicants in the interviews. However, Holly clearly demonstrated her abilities in her interview as later that day she was over the moon to find out she had beat the competition and got the job!

Holly is excitedly waiting to hear when the start date for her new role is. Once the date is confirmed Holly will be working twelve hours a week and will be responsible for the housekeeping in the Kipling Ward of Conquest Hospital.

Holly has already proven herself to be a loyal employee who has a great work ethic and is always kind and conscientious in her work. Little Gate Farm are very proud of her and all she has achieved and we are too! Well done Holly, keep up the hard work!