My work experience placement

My work experience placement was with Vanquis bank, for 4 days starting on Tuesday 8 November 2016.

I got the placement through the Mencap Employment Team, who I work with as a volunteer . They told me about some current placement opportunities and the chance to work with Vanquis for a week.

I was based at Vanquis’ offices at Fenchurch Street, on the 28th floor of the Walkie Talkie building. The offices were really fancy, but I didn’t have to dress up too smart - the dress code was just smart-casual.

I had a number of responsibilities, including putting documents together in a binding machine. I also had to calculate the travel costs for the Vanquis employees as they often have to travel to other locations, including Kent and Bradford. My favourite thing that I got to do was setting up refreshments for meetings. This wasn’t something that I had done before, and was one of the tasks that I really enjoyed doing. There were other things that I enjoyed too, but I think that was my favourite. I think overall my experience with Vanquis was positive, there wasn’t anything that I didn’t enjoy. It was also really good to get to know new people and find out what their jobs were, and what they have to do within their job.

Personally, I feel that there aren’t enough opportunities for people with a learning disability to find work or work experience which could lead to getting a permanent job. Someone with a learning disability might need more support during a work placement but it would be good if there were more opportunities for people with a learning disability to show what they are capable of.

My connection with Mencap

I’ve been working with Mencap for 2 years, since I became a Young Ambassador. I found out about this opportunity through my local Mencap group in Barnet. They also got me involved in a programme where I could work with different teams in the organisation , including Corporate, Campaigns, Media and Digital. I was really interested in these different teams so was glad to be involved.

My other interests

In my spare time I like take part in Fantasy Football and play football with the Mencap football team and I am a supporter of Manchester United. I also like tenpin bowling, listening to music and watching TV.

I also work one day at week at Wetherspoons on a Friday.

My future

At the end of this month I am going to do a placement with The Guardian newspaper for 1 week.

I’m interested in finding more work and more hours, as well as taking part in other work experience placements which could lead me to a permanent job. I’m interested in finding a new career and learning new things.