How WIN has helped me....

I found WIN at a critical point in my life. I have always worked and being made redundant was a huge shock for me as I had worked for over twenty years in a manufacturing and distribution environment in a number of roles including: Production Manager, Distribution Manager and Operations Manager. Working ment I had a focus in my life, something to work for and word towards and an income to look after my young family – not having a job was not an option.


I found the transition difficult because overnight, I lost my daily structure, business and social networks, instant access to peers and access to keeping my skills up to date. I also discovered that I was spending a lot of time alone which also ment I lost a lot of my confidence and self esteem.

It was approximately 9 months into my redundancy that I heard about Caroline McDonagh and her organisation, WIN. I went along to a session to see what it was all about and came away with a new lease of life. Caroline has set up a framework for professionals who have worked all of their lives and have suddenly been thrust into the unknown world of unemployment. She runs her sessions with a tight structure, giving us opportunities to develop a new network of contacts, training sessions for personal development, up skilling and developing new skills. Caroline also gives each participant a platform to break the cycle of social isolation as well as helping each person regain their confidence and self esteem. I guess the most important thing that participants find through WIN are jobs. From my experience a huge number of WIN participants have been finding work and have attributed their success to contacts and increase in self confidence – all found at WIN sessions.

I can confidently say, with the help from Caroline and the empowerment I got through WIN I found my job with Metal Improvement Company (M.I.C.) Ireland as the Production Manager. MIC is a world leader in providing metal treatment services for critical components operating in aerospace, automotive, power generation, chemical processing and specialty industrial applications and has just opened a manufacturing base in Parkmore in Galway.

I am responsible for hiring the new team and will be looking for 7/8 new employees by the end of this year. At the moment I am looking for a Quality person and Operatives with clean room experience. You can find the details for these on this blog (see below). The beauty of having been a participant in WIN means I can go back to Caroline and recruit through her group.

WIN worked for me and I am sure that Caroline will continue well into the future helping people build up their networks, beat isolation and find jobs.

Pat Regan, Production Manager, M.I.C. Ireland. www.metalimprovement.com