“I work as a training development officer. My contract runs out at the end of December 2010. Because of the dynamics I started looking for something at least a year ago.”

“I’m self-employed as well, doing holistic, alternative and complementary therapies. I do healing. I’m a medium. I do workshops, spiritual, psychic development.”

“I currently privately rent, through landlords, through agents on a 6 month lease at a time so I’m responsible for myself and my daughter and four cats for my sins.”

“I’d like a bit of a change in work-life balance, doing something different. So I quite like the idea of training and looking at different aspects of things I can do and utilising the skills I already have.”

“In my current role I’ve had some CPD to do with equality and diversity, vulnerable adults, and I’m coming to the end of a completion of an NVQ3 in Information, Advice and Guidance. I had a Fear of Presentations workshop. I did go to that which was really, really useful. That was by an external provider. That pretty much sums it up. I don’t feel I’ve had as much training as I should have had to develop my job role  and that I would have liked to have developed specifically my job role. I have requested other training and it’s been turned down.”

“I don’t feel secure in my job.”

“Because of the current economic climate and the changing government there is no guarantee of money for Convergence for the types of project that I work on after the end of December. After the end of December my money runs out completely, so officially from New Years Day I’m unemployed and for me that is obviously a no go area. I can’t afford to wait until the end of the project for that to happen.”

“I’m currently in the throes of change.”

“I’m changing from September to do two days a week with Truro college and three days a week in my current role which is a good thing because the project at Truro College, is really, really good, it’s got a lot more interest for me. However what concerns me I suppose, is the dynamics of running two jobs.”

“I suppose what I feel, when I go from this job is that I don’t feel that any of the training I’ve got in this job is going to necessarily benefit me when I’m going for other jobs. I kind of feel static in regards to that. There are so many people out there going for jobs.

“I haven’t got a degree. I have half a degree and I have a certificate in education.”

“I’m not saying that that would make a huge difference but…”

“If I could fund it, because it’s expensive at the moment, me I’m looking for an NLP practitioners course because that would really help me with the coaching and the holistic side. I can apply that to businesses as well as individuals. That would be really good. I’d quite like a mentoring qualification because that kind of shows another aspect of it. That would be good for me. Although I’m a training development officer, I don’t have any qualifications in that. I can teach and I have a teaching qualification but I don’t have any training qualifications or something that says I’ve been in training development. I was offered a place at Truro after my Cert Ed, to continue on and do a Bachelor of Arts degree in education. I couldn’t afford to do that at the time because of the cost of the course. Again, that’s something that needs to be funded; I couldn’t afford to do it”

“I kind of want to grow what I’m doing rather than stay where I am.”

Tina Rowe