Community Employability staff (see article above) will be interviewed for positions with the successful consortium early next month, but there will be no place for Bert Craig, for so long a familiar face through Working Links’ ‘Where’s Bert?’ feature in the NEN. Bert, who is now 67, finished up with Community Employability last week after ten years working in North Edinburgh.
“It’s very sad”, he said. “I think we did a pretty good job here over the years and we were never driven by targets or figures but concentrated instead on doing the very best we could to support people, helping them to make the right choices about what options were best for them and then supporting them all the way through. Some clients need a lot more support than others but that’s the nature of the job – every person who walks through our door is different, has different needs. For some, it’s maybe just a wee confidence boost that’s required or help with job applications or filling in forms, but there’s a huge sense of job satisfaction when a client you have been working intensively with finally lands that dream job which had seemed impossible just a few months before. Those are the ones you remember most”.
Bert hopes to find work and doesn’t plan to settle into retirement just yet. “I still feel I’ve got something to offer, and I hope my working experience and contacts here in North Edinburgh could be put to good use by a local organisation. We all know how difficult it is to find work just now, though – times are hard, and the telephone hasn’t rung so far. I’m here if anyone needs me, though – I love working in this area, feel part of the community and I feel I’ve got more to contribute. I’m just not ready to walk away yet”.
All the best, Bert – and who knows, maybe that telephone call may yet come?
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