Basic Skills Janine

Janine has learnt invaluable skills about how to manage different relationships in both her personal life and future work life.

I moved to Greenwich when I was 11 and completed all my secondary education here, so that’s all my GCSEs and A levels at the time. Then I moved out to complete my university HND. Afterwards I came back to Greenwich because I actually really like this borough. It’s a great place to live and work.

I visited GLAAB, which is another Royal Greenwich organisation, and spotted they had courses advertised that were free to local residents. They listed the courses and there were lots of options and there was an email to get in touch about them. This was great as I struggle a bit on the phone so this made it a lot easier. They got back to me very quickly, and it was pretty straightforward to enrol, so before I knew it I was on a course.

I am a little bit shy and I tend to treat people the way I would like to be treated. This would be fine if the world was like that, but obviously there are boundaries and people are different. Without boundaries people can sometimes ask you for more than you want to give, and I realised this was happening to me. I have sometimes been naive especially with having work done on my home, and I’ve been bitten on the bum a bit in the past.  So the first course I took was called Understanding & Managing Relationships and it’s been a real eye opener. It helped me establish the difference between how you behave and what you say, to say your work colleagues, or tradespeople you commission, or people in shops, and your friends. I found that basically I was giving too much of myself away to everyone, because I hadn’t established these boundaries. The course has really helped me to know the difference and with how to manage different relationships. It’s been invaluable and probably the course that has changed my life the most.

During the course, we look at different types of relationships, we watched videos showing different scenarios, and then we made notes, and then afterwards we discussed it all together as a group. And it’s all perfectly confidential, so you can talk about issues you may be having, and you get to hear other people’s points of view. You may not agree with everything being said, but you discover ways of looking at things which you hadn’t done before. I really enjoyed that part of the course. And you learn ways to handle different situations, what to say, so that you know how to say ‘I’m not comfortable with that. The course has been an absolute life saver for me.

After this course, I then took the My Career course which is exactly what it sounds like. You learn how to develop your CV, adding your work history, and if you haven’t got much work history then identifying skills you have from hobbies or interests you have or things you have done voluntarily, so that you are more employable. And there is also interview skills, looking at what the employer could ask you in an interview, and how to give the best response. I think people think they know everything already and you really don’t. The little tips and tweaks recommended in this course can make all the difference to whether you get a job or not.

And I found there was a really progression from the relationships course to the career course, in that I could apply things I had learnt in the first one to the next. I really feel much more prepared now to get into the working world. At the moment I am looking for voluntary work so that I can get used to working and into a routine. Long term I would like to get into paid employment, somewhere where I can interact with people. I have learnt that I do better face-to-face with people than over the phone or online. I can get more out of a situation in person so I am looking for something in the public realm.

I really enjoyed doing both the courses, and I would say to anyone who is considering doing courses later in life, just go for it. Having looked at the Greenwich Learns website, I have been blown away a bit because I didn’t realise there was such a variety of courses and course providers, and actually what the courses can do for you. I would say whatever course you are looking for, you’ll probably find something there that will suit you fine and can get you back into employment. I’ve got another course planned in the new year and I am really looking forward to it.

Janine De Mobré
Understanding & Managing Relationship, My Career
Unity Works