Maria is a young woman from Brăila, diagnosed with mild retardation. She has disablement pension, but she can work part-time (4-hour work restriction). Maria was forced to leave her previous job following a sexual abuse. Later, due to the lack of money, she could no longer pay the rent, so his child was temporaly took over by the representatives of the Social Assistance Service.
Maria contacted our team, via WhatsApp, following a recruitment announcement posted on an online platform. At that time, the young woman was in a degrading emotional state, with a low level of self-confidence, in her own strength and in the people around her. Maria wanted to get a job in order to live again alongside her child.
Olivia, labour market expert with HAO, was impressed by the young woman’s life story, but especially by her desire to overcome her condition. She went through the vocational profiling stage with the young woman, via WhatsApp. After that, they made an action plan together.
“Maria is a serious young woman, and she has common sense. I organized an interview for her at Carrefour Brăila. She made a special impression on both the human resources specialist and the hypermarket manager”, said our colleague.
According to Olivia, the lack of a valid identity card was the only impediment to closing employment process. It was very difficult for Maria to solve this problem, because she had no home. At the time of obtaining the document, the job at Carrefour was no longer available. Fortunately, the representatives of the hypermarket recommended Maria to the management of a pastry opened in their premises. The young woman impressed the entrepreneur at interview, so she was hired. She easily integrated into the team, because her character and her previous experience in the field.
The project “Labour market Employment for young Adults with a Disability – LEAD” is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment.
Cristina Șerbănescu
