Project Description

Carlos Case Study – The Life You Want ©

“The course gave me back the confidence to look ahead and think that I am capable of being a true citizen here in the UK.”

After almost two years of residency, Carlos gained the confidence he needed to secure a Teaching Assistant role here in the UK from Recro Consulting’s The Life You Want © programme.

The Life You Want © programme is all about creating powerful, positive, and lasting changes for individuals. In addition to group training sessions, which are aimed at identifying goals, increasing motivation, and growing candidates’ self confidence, we also offer one-to-one appointments with recruiters to help them address the personal things that might be getting in the way of them getting a job.

After the course is finished, our incredible recruiters continue to work with the candidates, establishing action plans for their job searches. Once target sectors and job titles have been identified, they source jobs online and reach out to prospective employers, assist them with their applications, and then, hopefully, help prepare them for interview as well, to give them the best possible chance of success.

But what really sets Recro apart is the fact that, for us, this isn’t just about getting people back into work, it’s about helping them decide what they really want out of life and encouraging them to go for it!

Carlos, who attended our Life You Want © course in June 2021, said:

“Everybody in the Recro team was so fantastic and they really embrace you and your history and your dreams and what you really want and they really give you the life that you want. It’s not the job you want, it’s the life you want. And it’s more than just having a job in your career in your field but it is to have a life that is worth [living].”

Carlos moved from Brazil to the UK in August 2019, six months before the first lockdown was announced.

A physics graduate with a master’s degree in teaching and management, he had over five years’ experience teaching students of all ages and abilities but ended up working in a factory for 10 months, before he was let go as a result of COVID-19. After a year of unemployment, he enrolled on The Life You Want © course in June 2021. Reflecting on his experience with us, he said:

“When I start[ed] the programme with the Recro team, I was pretty much about to give up on my career, and I was looking for any kind of job, just thinking about providing and the financial resources. After having a couple weeks, and having a brilliant team delivering ideas and making a journey with us [all the candidates], I found out I was going in the wrong direction, and I pretty much was giving up on not just my career but I was giving up on myself.”

After two weeks of training with Rowan and Joe, and some one-to-one support from one of our brilliant recruiters, Eddie, Carlos said he felt so much more confident, both in and of himself and about his job search.

“So, after having this support on and about yourself, I was introduced to Eddie, which was a phenomenal part of this new beginning of my life. Because he didn’t just give me hope on coming back on my career, on my path, but he also made me believe in myself and made me think I was capable enough of achieving what I was looking for.”

Carlos showed just how capable he was by securing a brand new role as a Teaching Assistant in July 2021. Listen to his full story here, then read on to discover how the Recro team helped him do it!

Rewriting Carlos’s CV was our next priority

After the course finished, rewriting Carlos’s CV was our next priority. Recro CV Writer, Kathryn, explains why.

“Carlos was a great candidate. Clearly passionate about his subject, he was also really enthusiastic about getting back into work, which is just as important as what’s on your CV when you’re searching for a job. He was well-liked on the course and presented himself extremely well at interview. Discounting the pandemic, which put a stop to pretty much everything, his only barrier to securing a new role was his CV.

“I went over Carlos’s CV in great detail when I received it from the recruiter, and while it became clear to me that he has a lot of great skills and experience, the one he came to us with did nothing to highlight them to potential employers. Hiring managers spend an average of seven seconds looking at the CVs they receive, so it’s important to maximise the impact of your personal statement and key skills (or in Carlos’s case, professional achievements) to make sure they keep reading.

“Carlos started by listing his education, then his work experience, his professional training, and finally, his career achievements to date. I flipped that on its head and led with the things that would make him stand out. For example, Carlos’s work on Genetic Epistemology while he was still at university has influenced policies approved by the Brazilian Ministry of Education to change the way autistic students are taught in schools. This turned out to be highly relevant to his new role.

“More generally, moving his achievements to the top of his CV showed his new employer exactly what he’s capable of, and after tweaking his personal statement to make it clear what his goals were and how his experience made him suitable for the kind of role he was looking for, interviewers for the position he ultimately secured were able to see why he was worth considering for it.”

Once she had finished the first draft, she sent it over to Carlos to review and received the following feedback:

“I am very pleased with the assistance of the RECRO team, you guys gave me back the confidence to look ahead and think that I am capable of being a true citizen here in UK. Now, when I look through the looking glass, I can see a different version of me.”

She also sent a copy to Eddie, who then busily set about calling what felt like every recruitment agency in the South West when he received it. He says, “I eventually spoke to a recruiter in an agency in Swindon that had a full-time, permanent role as a teaching assistant, but the recruiter had already submitted the shortlist and the interviews were booked for Tuesday of the following week. I convinced the recruiter Carlos was an exceptional candidate and she must review his CV while I was on the phone to her. She stayed on the phone and reviewed the CV I sent her and saw how good he was. She agreed to call him, and once she had that call, she submitted his CV to the school, who said they wanted to include him in the interviews taking place the following Tuesday as a late candidate. He went and interviewed and got the job. Feedback from the interviewers, who included the headmaster, was that Carlos was the stand out candidate.”

Beat 5 others. Sealed the deal.

He ended up beating five other, extremely well-qualified candidates to secure the role – and while our CV and hard work got him in the door, it was Carlos himself who sealed the deal by displaying his passion for teaching and his ability to connect with students with special needs.

The recruiter told us that, after the formal interview, Carlos was given a tour of the school and met some of the students he’d been working with if his application was successful. He spent some time playing chess with them, and by the end of the session, they didn’t want him to leave. No wonder he got the job!

We are all so pleased for him and want to wish him the very best for when he starts work there in September.

For his part, Carlos wants to urge anyone who’s given the opportunity to attend one of Recro’s The Life You Want © courses to do so if at all possible: “Everybody that has a chance to be part of this programme, do not hesitate; this is your best chance to find out what is the life that you want.”