Nitya Starts a Volunteering Position

Nitya moved to the UK from India in January 2020 with her husband, initially planning to stay for two years. Arriving just before the COVID-19 pandemic, Nitya faced some challenges including homesickness, and adapting to a new country during lockdown. In 2022, she gave birth to her daughter and decided to focus on her child before re-entering the workforce and came to GRoW in late 2023 to support her in her journey back to work.

Nitya said “I first heard about the GRoW programme while visiting the Children and Young Families Centre (CYPFC) at Highfield Library in Leicester. A staff member introduced the programme to the mothers there, explaining how GRoW could support women in getting back to work. Although I wasn’t looking for a job at that time I did leave my information and later received a message about the programme. I went along in June 2024 as I was thinking about returning to work. As soon as I started attending GRoW’s online sessions I could see the benefit. These included Friday coffee mornings and meetings with guest speakers like Jonty Rooke, which I found so inspiring. Through these sessions, I gained important information about job applications, personal statements, and CV writing. Zoiya and the team also worked on creating a CV for me.

I really needed to gain work experience in the UK and so I applied to voluntary positions at Cancer Research UK and to Leicester City Council for a volunteering position at the library. I was so pleased to be accepted for the library position and have received my paperwork to complete.

Working at the library will provide me with the work experience I need and I can balance my childcare with my husband. My daughter is now almost two years old and will start nursery in 2025 so I intend to work full-time then.

The support from GRoW has been really helpful to me. Though I had a number of jobs in India it is not easy to work in a new country without understanding the process or having any work experience. GRoW has boosted my confidence and given me the knowledge I needed to get ready for work in the UK. I feel really focused and prepared to build my career now and look forward to starting my volunteering job at the Library.