Oxbridge Alumni, Phillipa, shares her moving success story with us...
"I had no idea what to do..."
I had everything I needed, a husband, a great house and 2 lovely children I was happily married or so I thought. Until one morning I woke up and he was gone, I was all alone with a mortgage and 2 demanding teenage children. I hadn't worked in over 17 years and even then it was hardly a career. I had no idea what to do or even what I could do. Time and technology had passed me by.
With a little help and advice from my friend, I looked on the internet for inspiration. I looked at enrolling at the local college but I'd missed the start date and would have to wait until the next intake, even then I wasn't sure what I would have enrolled on. I signed up with some agencies and entered my details into several online job finders... Nothing.
From the few responses I got back, it was clear that the general consensus was that I had no experience. How could this be? I had run a house, paid the bills in a timely manner and organised my husband's diary so he wouldn't forget to get up for work or go out for his boss's birthday. I'd never missed a school appointment or afternoon club, made lunches, entertained the children on holidays and organised parties for them and their friends. But none of this seemed to count. I knew I needed to do something about it.
"This is where I found Oxbridge."
I had heard of distance learning but I didn't know much about it, so I used my new best friend - Google - to help me out. This is where I found Oxbridge. The website was informative and easy to use. I called them and spoke with a very friendly adviser who put my mind at ease with all the questions I had. In less than 24 hours, I was enrolled on the Medical and Clinical Administration Course. It was a long way from my dreams as a teenager to be a midwife, but it was a start. The adviser didn't disregard me for my "lack of experience", he listened to me, my experience (even if it was "only from a domestic background"), he asked me what I wanted and what I thought I was good at. And then he advised me on the perfect course.
With my renewed motivation and direction, I emailed the local hospitals asking for some voluntary work; I was given the email address of the volunteer section and sent off my email. A few days later I got a reply with all the current vacancies and applied, after a few meetings and the usual red tape I was in place and working with an older lady who volunteered as a result of the hospital looking after her husband in his last days, it was her way of giving something back.
"...even my children have noticed a big difference in me!"
I was volunteering 2 days a week and learning 2 days a week, I had renewed self-confidence. My tutor was encouraging and seemed genuinely interested, over emails we had really struck up a friendship; she seemed to know more about my life than me, and out of the blue she suggested that I apply to the hospital to go on 'Bank Staff' I had never even heard of this, but I asked one of my colleagues about it and she introduced me to the Departments Head of Administration - a couple of hours later I had an email asking me to fill out the application form. As a result of my course and the new job I had so much more to put on my CV than before, I had a good feeling about this.
In no time at all I was on the bank staff and been posted all over the hospital on little missions, I was doing on average 3 shifts a week, some night shifts too, it was so interesting and was so applicable to my course, in reality, my course was so applicable to my job, I was learning all of the time, even my children have noticed a big difference in me! Thank you, Oxbridge.