Cliff Melhuish

43 year old Cliff Melhuish from Bridgnorth, Shropshire, had been working as a welder for the past 14 years and decided it was time for a change.

Cliff explains:

“Before getting into welding I’d been a bit of a jack-of-all-trades – I’d done sales, shop work, pubs – you name it. Then I kind of fell into welding through a job I had as a quality technician. I absolutely loved it to start with – it was really interesting for the first five years. But once I reached a certain level it didn’t feel like there was anywhere for me to go. I began to find it repetitive and felt trapped.”

At the end of his tether with his current job, Cliff decided to give learndirect advice line a call:

“I had a load of muddled ideas in my head about what I might like to do, but I really needed some guidance. I’ve worked with a couple of youngsters through my local church who have had a tough time – that’s what made me realise I’d like to work in a support or counselling role. I looked on the learndirect website and got a few ideas, but I needed to speak to someone who could help crystallise my options for me. The adviser was great – he filtered through all the confusion in my mind and helped me work out the best route for me to take.”

The adviser suggested Cliff get in touch with his local college - which he did:

“I’ve started a flexible access course with my local college. It’s less targeted than a straightforward access course so leaves my options open and in less than a year will give me the equivalent of two A levels.”

“Realising I could be out of my current job and into a fresh career sooner rather than later really motivated me. I’ve applied for a role as a support worker and another as a trainer in an adult literacy centre. Both roles offer training to NVQ Level 3 and a foundation degree – they’d be ideal, so fingers crossed!”

After calling the advice line Cliff received a pack from the adviser he spoke to which detailed what they’d talked about:

“I was really impressed. I felt so confused before ringing the advice line. I think not knowing what you want to do next can sometimes put people off changing their career – but learndirect made it easy and really helped to give me new direction. I’d definitely recommend them.”