Oksana Builds a New Future with Grow

After months of building her confidence, learning new skills, and tailoring her applications with support from Grow, Oksana has started a new role as a Lunchtime Supervisor at a primary school in Hillingdon.

Since moving to the UK from Ukraine nearly three years ago, Oksana has worked hard to improve her English and adapt her skills to the job market. She has been supported by Grow to help build her confidence, with job searching, CV support and interview practice and she has attended our AI sessions to help her utilise ChatGPT to tailor her applications.

Oksana sees her new job as a Lunchtime Supervisor as a crucial first step toward her longer-term goal of becoming a Teaching Assistant.

Oksana said “Back in Ukraine I was a German lecturer at university but I had to be honest with myself. I didn’t know the rules here, I didn’t know the curriculum well, and I couldn’t just start where I was before. I needed to start small, take a tiny step, and grow from there.

With two young children and no extended family nearby to help, Oksana looked for work that would fit around her family life. A Lunchtime Supervisor role was the perfect solution:

“It’s not about the money, it’s about going outside, not staying home all day, making friends, being busy, and being professionally useful again. I like making a difference in children’s lives. It fits my circumstances perfectly, I can drop my children off at school, work for two hours, and still have time to pick them up after school.”

Oksana’s journey to this point took time and persistence. She applied for jobs over a period of six to seven months, had a few unsuccessful interviews, and kept learning from each experience. Grow supported her every step of the way:

“Before my first interview, I had a mock interview with Karen from Grow, who explained what questions I might be asked and how to answer them. I learned so much. Even though my first interviews weren’t successful, I used all the advice from Grow, watched YouTube videos, read articles online, and kept applying. I am really grateful for everything, for little things, for big things, for everything.”

“I’ve applied for a Teaching Assistant course and I’ve been talking to staff at my school who told me many TAs started out as Lunchtime Supervisors. This is just the beginning for me. As my children grow and become more independent, I’ll have more time for myself and for my own development. I will do it, step by step.”

“I feel on this journey it is important to be honest with yourself about what is possible right now. You might need to begin with a small step to reach your big goal, but you will get there!”