In life, we are often faced with various challenges that put us down; draining our confidence and belief. Usually, however, all it takes to come back from this is to get back on your feet and realize your potential. Build your confidence back up and better things start happening.

Jane had successfully owned her own business, a café, for over 25 years and was actively involved in the day-to-day operations until a serious health issue was diagnosed. The condition was directly linked to years of working in a kitchen and she was advised that she could no longer continue working in this environment. Eventually, Jane was forced to sell her business. Having been divorced for a number of years and in her early 50s, her personal circumstances dictated that, financially, she would have to continue working.

Jane discovered a program that offered support in helping unemployed adults over the age of 50 to explore their potential and assist them back into employment. She initially felt that she had no skills or experience and was beginning to really worry about what employment opportunities were available to her. The program encouraged her to look at the skills she used in running her own business. Before long, she had a list that included dealing with the public, customer service, marketing and promotion, recruiting and managing staff, dealing with complaints, as well as an array of financial skills.

This helped build Jane’s confidence and shaped her CV as well as a number of job applications. She also started to think about what she enjoyed doing in her spare time and realized that the tourism sector was something she would be interested in exploring further. She applied to work in a local hotel as a breakfast assistant. However, her employer was so impressed that she was offered a supervisory position due to her wealth of experience. Jane worked in the job for around six months and continued to learn and develop her personal interest, which was focused on becoming a tour guide.

Having continued to pursue her ideal job, Jane has now successfully realized this goal and is currently working as a tour guide for a local tourist attraction, where she thoroughly enjoys meeting and guiding tourists and gains a great deal of satisfaction from the work she does.