19-year-old Nicola Chatterton lives in Bellshill, Rochdale. Upon leaving school she went to college to undertake a basic skills course to
improve her literacy and numeracy.
After completing this she was referred on to a 6-month Entry to Employment (E2E) course by Connexions Service at Kashmir Youth Project (KYP). Soon after, Nicola progressed onto
a traineeship with Rochdale Youth Offending Team and was given the opportunity to commence an NVQ
level 2 in office administration, through KYP. The traineeship finished in February 2007, and Nicola found herself unemployed. She registered with Employment Links to assist her in her search for employment.
At the same time, J21 had formalised a partnership agreement with support services and construction group Carillion Regional Building and Community 1st Oldham Ltd, to create local employment and supply chain opportunities through the construction of a number of community facilities and health centres throughout the borough of Oldham.
Nicola was the first person to be recruited through this initiative, following an interview process. She has taken on the role of construction site receptionist on
the flagship Integrated Care Centre. She said: “This job offer came as a pleasant surprise at a crucial time in my development. It's challenging but interesting and I'm learning lots of new skills. I was very nervous at first, as
working on a construction site was daunting, but actually it's just like being in a normal office. My work colleagues and line manager are very supportive and highly professional.
This job is providing me with the experience I need to sustain long-term employment and I'm grateful to J21, Community 1st Oldham and Carillion Regional Building for creating this opportunity.” Frank McCall - Project Manager,
Carillion Regional Building comments: “Nicola has settled in well with the rest of the site team and will become a key member of the team being responsible for all site admin and document control.”