New apprentice Ryan Griffiths is sharing how he conquered anxiety so severe he did not finish his education.
Ryan is just starting out on his Level 2 Supply Chain Warehouse Operative apprenticeship, which will include additional examinations in maths and English equivalent to the GCSEs he never sat.
Years of mental health struggles culminated in Ryan, now 21, dropping out of school in year 10 at the age of 15.
He says: "It got so bad I couldn't leave the house for nine months. I had it for six or seven years, and I still don't like travelling. The bus to work is only five minutes but it's still a tough thing to do, you tell yourself nothing is going to happen."
But Ryan has turned his life around through sheer determination and self-discipline. He says: "I just started making myself do things again. I started going out and making a play to get a job. Every time I saw an opportunity I went for it, rather than saying I'll do it later."
And he has this advice for anyone facing similar mental health struggles: "Don't let it grasp you. You have to beat it before it beats you. Anything you don't want to do is just your brain telling you not to do it. It's not good - you have to do what you don't want to do to get out of it."
Ryan, from Limeside, first came to our attention at Oldham Jobs Fair, when he met our UK Sales Manager Chris Essex and Sales Office Supervisor Deon Phoenix. He then emailed his CV to HR Manager Carole Hamnett-Sadler and followed up with her twice. His persistence paid off and we invited him in for an interview which led to a referral to our regular apprenticeship providers, North Lancs Training Group in Accrington.
Dan Mounsey, our Marketing and Business Development Director, says: "Ryan having no qualifications isn't really an issue for us. It didn't put us off in the slightest - we've learnt from experience that sometimes you need to give people a chance. We see people, we speak to them and make our own judgement. And we're not just doing it for Ryan; we believe he can contribute to our business."
Ryan, who started with us last October and is based in the worktops warehouse, says: "I was desperate to find a job, so I'm buzzing now. I'm glad to get the opportunity; it's hard to get a job when you have no GCSEs, everything seems impossible. I saw a cleaning job and even they were asking for GCSEs."
Ryan is being joined on his level two apprenticeship journey by 18-year-old Warren Booth, from Fitton Hill in Oldham. He first started with us on a government-funded, 8-week traineeship, through NLTG, from which he has emerged with flying colours to land his apprenticeship.
He is part of the five-man team in our fittings warehouse and says: "I'm glad the traineeship worked out. I really like working here. The team is brilliant, very friendly, we have a laugh, we get the work done quickly and efficiently. It's really motivating to wake up to a job you like rather than a job you don't like."
Warren, who also attended Oasis Academy, is full of praise for the traineeship scheme, which he applied for of his own accord after realising his bricklaying course at Oldham College was not for him.
"Within a week of applying I was working here. It was very quick and very efficient. I'm hoping to come out of the apprenticeship with a good qualification in the future and have a better future progressing to more senior jobs at work."
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