Employability Day: Celebrating our Employability Advisors, Courtney Llewellyn’s Itec story

In January 2022, Courtney Llewellyn became an Employability Advisor for Itec Skills and Employment’s Restart Scheme provided by Serco. Our Employability Advisors provide end-to-end structured support and guidance to all participants through the Employability Skills programme at the centre of our Restart delivery.

Since joining Itec Courtney has completed Institute of Employability Professionals (IEP) Level 2 sector induction which has supported Courtney in gaining strong sector knowledge and advice on how to practice in the employability sector. Furthermore, Courtney has undertaken over 50’s Employability Support training and signed up for an NVQ in Information, Advice and Guidance, all to support her in providing the best possible level of support to her participants.

Courtney has worked with multiple participants to help them into employment, she has shown tremendous commitment and understanding as she believes it is critical to address the barriers that people might face to help them gain employment. For example, Courtney has worked with a participant who lacked recourses such as a computer, therefore she used the recourses available at the Restart centre to assist them with completing online courses, job applications, job searching and interviews via teams. Courtney always utilises her skills and embodies the Itec core value of delivering excellence. Courtney has also worked with participants who have shown issues with behaviour and motivation, but she guarantees support and collaboration for every individual, always creating a safe and comforting environment.

When arranging for participants to attend interviews for open positions, Courtney has worked with partnerships like SERCO to communicate with employment authorities. She also had four participants selected for the SERCO September 2022 audit. Courtney received praise from an independent auditor due to her amazing action plan review and was told that they should be used across the board.

Feedback from Itec’s Business Assurance Coordinator

“The feedback that we received from our SERCO audit was to use Courtney’s Llewellyn’s work as an example of best practice.”

Courtney was awarded Advisor of the Month and Employee of the Month in May 2023 after being nominated by her colleagues who praised her for her kindness, consideration to others, and how she goes above and beyond for her participants. Evidently, Courtney is an individual who is passionate about her role as an Employability Advisor and is someone who ensure to provide the best service possible for any participant.

Here is what Courtney has to say about her role as an Employability Advisor, and her experience of receiving Employee of the Month:

“I love my role as an employability advisor as there is no greater pleasure than to give reassurance to individuals who need motivation and to see themselves as worthy of achieving anything they aspire to be and goals they want to reach. I enjoy prizing individuals to improve their sense of self and enable them to see themselves as credible. Being an employment advisor, I do not focus on what individuals cannot do, however, focus on what they can do and how I can use empowerment to encourage and inspire. Being rewarded employee of the month was validating as I feel recognised for what I do and the effort I implement has been seen. It reassures me in knowing I am capable and if I can feel more positive about myself, anyone can! I am grateful to have a supportive team surrounding me who boost morale and being recognised as employee of the month has improved my morale as an advisor.”

Want to make a difference in people’s lives? Click the link to see our available roles here at Itec: https://www.itecskills.ac.uk/opportunities/