Ep.51 From Policing to WithYouWithMe Programme Graduate with Samantha Gillison

Building on the last episode with CEO and joint founder Tom Moore of the Tech company, WithYouWithMe, in today's episode, I'm speaking with a former police officer, Samantha Gillison. Samantha is a graduate of the WithYouWithMe programme and has an incredible new role as a result, and her experience of the programme, from skills profiling, through to training, finding employment and onboarding, has been exceptional. Rather than feeling penalised for having a chronic illness and having to leave the job after 7 years, WYWM and her new employers have embraced her differences, and understand the challenges faced by those suffering from chronic illnesses. Samantha started working closely with an organisation called Astriid.org. Astriid are an amazing organisation that help bridge the gap between the Invisible Talent Pool (people with chronic illnesses who wish to pursue volunteering or employment), and the UK skills crisis, and they suggested undertaking training new skills with WithYouWithMe. Samantha has now completed her training and has been offered a really exciting new tech role with Northrop Grumman, who design, develop, build and support some of the world’s most advanced products, from cutting-edge aircraft and next-generation spacecraft to unrivalled cyber security systems and all-seeing radars. Her story is truly inspirational and actually choked me up during the interview. I hope you enjoy! Don't forget, you can also visit the website and blog on www.bluelightleavers.com and join the private Facebook Group via www.facebook.com/groups/bluelightleavers You can listen to the podcast on shift, walking the dog, pottering about, and do it on your phone, desktop, laptop, or tablet, anywhere and whenever suits you, pause and play and they're all completely free! You can now even ask Alexa to 'Play Blue Light Leavers Podcast' and up it pops.