Nathan’s Story So Far…

Nathan’s Story

Nathan was a part of Grow’s Autumn 2019 programme.

Before Grow I had just finished college studying Games Design, after passing the course I was struggling to find a job.

I heard about Grow through Sheffield Futures. Grow looked interesting and helpful, I emailed the team and received a phone call where we discussed the programme and what goes on in different sessions.

On the first day of Grow I felt a bit nervous, I wasn’t much of a talker so meeting new people was hard for me especially when making conversations.

I thought I’d give it a try.

I learned a lot during the Grow programme. During Monday’s session I learnt how to start small conversations, write and edit a CV, how to introduce myself with a firm handshake and many more things. Every Wednesday we went to a small farm and did different tasks; we planted bulbs and different types of seeds, we created a gravel path for people to walk on, planted a memorial tree and helped the other workers on the farm with jobs. On Fridays I had a 1:1 where the coaches sat down and went through different job websites to research and apply for jobs

The standout growth moments for me are probably when we did interview practice. It was very formal; we had to dress up smart and answer questions about the company and yourself. Another standout growth moment for me is when I was at the farm and I had to give a tour to 2-3 people around the section we have been working on.

When I finished Grow I got into contact with my old maths teacher at college to see if I could restudy maths once again to try and get a better grade. So now I am at college part time studying maths whilst applying for jobs. At the minute I am doing maths work at home and it’s going well. When I finish work I upload it to google drive and get feedback from my teacher, it results in me doing “excellent work” which makes me feel that I will get a better grade. Job searching has slowed down due to the pandemic. It’s hard because not many shops are open and there are not many jobs.

In the future I am hoping to get a better grade in maths so that I can update my CV which will result in me getting a job and do things that I have not been able to do like take driving lessons.

Grow has made a difference in my life by making me feel more confident when talking to other people, before I was quiet and nervous to start conversations but now, I feel more confident talking.

My family are really pleased because it’s given me confidence. They were really surprised to see me standing up and speaking in front of a room full of people at the graduation event which is probably something I wouldn’t have done if I hadn’t gone to grow.

If you’re considering Grow, I really do recommend it since it’s helped me in so many ways and it also teaches you things that you never really learn in school. When I first spoke to the team they mentioned about going to a farm and instantly I thought “I don’t really want to go to a farm” but then they convinced me to give it a try and after going and working on the farm you see it from a different perspective. There’s always something to do and you never stop working until you get a break towards the end of the session. Grow teaches you many techniques and skills that relate to a working environment or people in general. You find out what your strengths and weaknesses are and the coaches sit down with you in a 1:1 or on a Monday session and help you increase your skills. My weaknesses were making conversations and not projecting my voice but then the coaches pushed and pushed me to project my voice to a point where I was confident enough to talk more loudly than I would normally.