Football coach scores hat-trick of jobs

Football coach scores hat-trick of jobs

An inspirational Birmingham man who faced the nightmare of unemployment has bagged himself a hat-trick of jobs including coaching vulnerable city youngsters to play football.

Michael Flaherty was offered an incredible three jobs in one week after receiving help from employment and training experts Pertemps People Development Group (PPDG,) including landing two dream jobs as a football coach.

The 55-year-old married man, from West Heath, had been out of work for three months before he was put in touch with PPDG who have helped thousands of people in Birmingham and across the UK get back into work.

And within seven weeks Michael was back on the employment track.

Michael was placed on the Flexible Routeways (FRW) programme to assist him in finding work. PPDG helped him write his CV and brush up on interview techniques and offered advice on applying for jobs.

And this resulted in him beating 500 applicants to secure one of 11 jobs at the new Travelodge Birmingham Central Bull Ring Hotel as a night porter which he started in April.

He was then offered coaching work for step2sport who coach football to pupils in schools. Michael has also started voluntary work for the Christian charity YMCA in Northfield, Birmingham, where he is helping to get vulnerable youngsters between the ages of 13 and 17 off the streets and playing football.

Michael, who was born and bred in Birmingham, emigrated to Canada in 1986. While he was there he worked as a tool maker and also qualified as a football coach. He returned to England in 2007 and worked for a security firm but was made redundant last November.

He said: “I have always been a hard worker so to be made redundant at the end of last year was a massive blow to me. But I was determined to get back into work and with the help of PPDG I was able to achieve my aim. To be offered three jobs in one week was just fantastic. Two of them are dream jobs for me as a football coach.

“I have already started coaching for the YMCA in the Lee Bank area and I am putting together a team to take part in a football tournament.

“The players come from disadvantaged backgrounds and are vulnerable young people. We are aiming to get them off the streets and away from gang violence and to take part in sport. I am also looking to help train some of the older players to be coaches themselves so they can be inspirational figures for some of the younger children.

“I am so delighted to be back in work and to have the opportunity to coach football and help improve lives for these vulnerable youngsters.”

The YMCA has also asked Michael to help raise money for them and he is planning to run a car boot sale.

Rachel Dewar, employment coach at PPDG’s Newtown Advancement Centre, said: “Michael is a truly inspirational man. He showed so much determination to secure a job. He was willing to accept anything to get back into employment but in the end he managed to secure his dream job of becoming a football coach.

“I assisted Michael in helping writing cover letters and tailoring his CV so that the skills he had were clear to employers when applying for suitable work. The rest of it was down to him. Michael started off unemployed but within seven weeks he had secured not just one job but three. He is an inspiration.”

The FRW programme is an employability programme supporting unemployed into work. The programme assists with job search, interview techniques, telephone techniques, computer skills and CV writing.

PPDG’s team of employment experts provide advice on benefits, confidence building, one-to-one support, CV and interview preparation as well as finding the right job or training course. In partnership with DWP, the Ministry of Justice and Jobcentre Plus, PPDG delivers a diverse range of employment and training initiatives and many ESF funded programmes. More than 100,000 job seekers have been helped into sustained employment by the company since the projects began.  It has trained 130,000 people in vocational skills, and over 175,000 people have benefitted from professional information, advice and guidance services.