Developing the green skills needed for a career in Horticulture
Jonathan was unemployed and looking for work as a gardener or groundskeeper in Bristol. He had a relative lack of experience in the sector with just six months gardening work to draw on.
Jonathan met his navigator while he was studying for a certificate in Practical Horticulture.
Jonathan and his navigator have been in contact regularly for the past year while he has been completing his course. During that time his navigator has sent out regular emails filled with useful links to job vacancies, apprenticeships, training courses, job fairs, etc, along with helpful tips on how to get work.
They have also been speaking on the phone every few weeks for the past six months or more to talk about how the job search has been going and to offer advice.
“My navigator has been extremely supportive all the time I have been struggling to acquire the skills I need to get a decent gardening job, coming up with loads of good work leads and making many useful suggestions to help me land a job.
I am a great deal more confident in my ability to get and keep a job worth having!
I have found work at BANES Council tending the heritage parks of Bath.
I have passed my driving test – so important in my line of work – with lots of encouragement from my navigator! I have picked up my chainsaw and aerial rescue tickets, with a chainsaw from a rope and harness course in the pipeline, and I am well on the way to becoming a tree surgeon
Finding a job would have been a harder, lonelier enterprise without the help I have received from my navigator.”