House Husband gets behind the wheel
28 April, 2008
A Stapleford father is on the road to success thanks to a local college.Nottingham City transport (NCT) approached Castle College after they found a lot of applicants for trainee bus drivers were either not getting through the initial assessment or were not competent in customer service skills.
The College set up a six week course in Customer Service and Preparation for Work.
Assessments
Students had to go through a number of assessments including an Attention to Detail test, psychometric test and a driving assessment. 50% passed all the assessments and went onto an interview and medical.
The outcome was that 38% of the original candidates went on to start training with NCT, a much higher success rate than NCT’s normal recruitment methods.
Now, having successfully completed the course, Andrew Westerman, 45, is a trainee bus driver with NCT.
House Husband
Having spent 15 years as a ’house husband’ looking after seven children before starting the course, Andrew said: “I went along to the NCT Open Day at the Council House in Nottingham where I found out about the Academy. I thought it sounded interesting, so I signed up on the spot.
“The children are grown up now and I thought I should be doing something! The tutors were brilliant, and I have learnt a lot.
“The two courses taught us about preparing a CV, filling out application forms, and the high levels of customer service expected by NCT.
“I was low in confidence at first, but now I’m really happy to be starting the job after such a long time out of work, as are my family!
"If I can do it after being out of work for 15 years, anyone can.”
By editor@nottinghamng9.co.uk.
