Learn new skills and get a job

If you're at school or college, you aren't supported by Persona and you're looking for work experience with Persona Care and Support, click here.

This page is for people supported by Persona and Bury Shared Lives who want to start working or volunteering.

This page tells you:

• what a skills placement is
• what job skills you can learn
• what qualification you can get
• how skills placements work
• information for families and carers about skills placements
• how to get a skills placement

Want to work or volunteer but you don't have any experience?

Want to feel more confident about working or volunteering?

Want to learn new skills and get a qualification?

We can teach you job skills to help you:

• build your confidence
• learn work and personal skills
• get a qualification
• get ready to find paid work

You can choose from four different roles to learn the job skills you need to work anywhere. We call these skills placements:

• Welcome: in Whitefield: cleaning, laundry and serving breakfast. You'll spend more time working with your team and less time with customers and other people.
• Host: in Walmersley: make and serve food and drinks, take orders and payments. You'll spend more time working customers and other people while you work with your team.
• Community: in Whitefield: meet and greet, look after community events and a building. You'll spend more time working customers and other people while you work with your team.
• Outdoors: across Bury: cut grass, weed and maintain gardens and allotments. You'll spend more time working with your team and less time with customers and other people.

You won't work alone in any of these placements. There will always be someone you can ask for help.

All these placements will teach you job skills. You will also learn different skills for the role you choose. You can get a qualification too.

Some job skills you will learn are:

• learning at work
• confidence and independence
• communicating and working with people
• managing your time, planning and organising
• staying safe at work

Click here to read more about what these mean. 

Who can do a skills placement?

• anyone who 
  • is supported by Persona or Bury Shared Lives
  • has a personal budget 

How do skills placements work?

They last for 12 months but you can finish before then if you're ready.

You get:

• one to one training on the job
• help completing qualifications
• staff who understand what it's like to start working
• support with learning skills you'll need for any job, like travelling to work arriving on time, understanding workplace routines, working with other people, learning systems that help you do what you need eg remember your shifts, know what you're doing and when, how to get help when you need it
• support with the skills you need to do the placement you choose

What happens after my skills placement?

While you do your skills placement, our job coaches will talk to you about what you want next. They will ask you if you want to find a paid job or be a volunteer. If this is what you want, they will help you do this. If you get a paid job or a volunteer role, our job coaches will support you for up to six months after you start work. 

What qualification can I get?

It's called the Unit Award Scheme (AQA) and it has lots of different units. You will do different units on different skills placements and you will choose which ones to do. You will get a certificate for each unit you do. Your certificate will show all the knowledge and skills you have learnt for that unit.

100% of people on placements who took these units passed last year.

What is the Unit Award Scheme (UAS)?

The Unit Award Scheme (UAS) is a national qualification that the AQA run. The AQA is an exam board who mark GCSE's and A levels too. They will check your assessments after you have done them. 

The UAS is flexible and practical so you can work with staff to decide which units you want to work on.

For example, if you choose the Host placement, you can do these units:

1. Introduction to basic food hygiene regulation 
2. Basic health and safety in the kitchen - Personal hygiene 
3. Basic kitchen hygiene and safety
4. Café Front of house, cleaning and clearing tables 
5. Café customer service 
6. Café counter- Using the till 
7. Work experience- working in a café

Do I have to do any tests or exams to get my certificate?

No. The staff on your placement will watch you working to collect proof of your skills and learning.

This proof might be just watching you working and following instructions. They might take some photos or write things down. 

I want to do a skills placement. What do I do next?

First fill in a form to tell us how we can contact you. Then we'll talk to you about what will happen next.

Click here to fill in the form.

If you prefer to ask some questions, ring Ste on 07356 108 494 or click here to email Ste.

Looking for opportunities for a loved one? Click here for the answers to these questions:

• How do I know my loved one will be safe on a skills placement?
• How will my loved one be supported on a skills placement with their learning, with anxiety or other needs?
• Will staff on a skills placement understand what my loved one needs?
• How will a skills placement help my loved one to become more independent?
• What exactly is a UAS (AQA) qualification?