The Ryan Tubridy Show

Thanks again to Ryan, Sinead and Aonghus for featuring WIN on the Ryan Tubridy Show today. You can listen in here: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thetubridyshow/

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

Job Vacancies.

Hi all,

I am looking for a Quality person who is an all rounder who has a medical device background who is strong on validation as well as having technical experience.

I am now also looking for Operatives with Clean room experience.

If you are one of these people or know some one that is please contact me for more details at patregan1@hotmail.com A.S.A.P. I need to fill those positions immediately.

Pat Regan

Next WIN session - July 16th: Free e-learning tools

Hi everyone,

Kevin O'Malley, WIN participant and Marketing Consultant will the presenter for our next session on July 16th. Kevin will provide an overview of e-learning tools that are available online. He will give us information and pointers about these valuable resources which can be found online, and are available for free.

See you there and please get in touch with me if you have any queries about this session or what WIN has to offer.
Regards,
Caroline

Next session: July 2nd: The Elevator Pitch

The Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is a short presentation which is intended to be short enough to deliver in the time it takes to get from the ground floor to the top floor boardroom in an elevator - assuming you are with your target audience and you have their undivided attention. In this session we will look at how you go about preparing your personal pitch.

WIN Works....

I find WIN very useful. I've already had a couple of job leads that were generated through WIN, which is very encouraging.

Also, it's very useful when someone is not used to being unemployed and they find themselves unexpectedly unemployed to meet up with fellow unemployed people to learn and discuss similar experiences.

I've also learned to network at WIN and have made valuable contacts there. The job industry seems to be very relationship based now and who you know and having someone vouch for you is important. Also, the elevator pitches are great for boosting confidence and making you think about what skills you have to offer.

Going to WIN has not made me feel gloomy about my future, but instead it has energised me and made me look forward to what the future holds. I think it's a very important resource for unemployed people. I don't know of anything else where unemployed people can come together and talk and network and learn new things. I think it's great!
 
Amy Callaghan

Identifying challenges....

We will be having a very worthwhile session this week as I will be facilitating the discussion to discuss and identify 10 challenges which participants of WIN are experiencing with finding work or starting a business and social welfare and anything else that is blocking you finding or creating employment.

If you have something to add to this discussion, please join us at 10am in the Boardroom in Enterprise Ireland.

I look forward to seeing you there.
Caroline.