Catering for hunger for work

Scottish charity Inspire has already helped several people into paid employment through its scheme to help people with learning disabilities into work. It trains people at two social enterprises, the eatery Café Coast and the Inspire conference centre. Paul Nicoll, 25, is one of its participants

My ambition has always been to get a paid job in a café or kitchen, but it has been hard because of my learning disability. I found out about Inspire when I visited the job centre and met the disability employment adviser who told me about the Training for Work programme there.

I started training at Café Coast last year and began working towards a City and Guilds qualification in food and hygiene over the summer. I hope that, once I have finished my qualification in a month or two, I’ll find paid work.

Apart from me, there are five students at the moment with another two about to join. I wanted to learn about catering, but others choose to work in the conference centre, where they might learn about setting up a room. It’s up to you to decide what you want to do. Everyone has a different learning plan depending on what their interests and goals are.

My training is supported by the kitchen staff who record what I do every week. I also write work sheets on what I have done. The college come in weekly at the moment to assess us working in the kitchen and they make sure I am working properly.

There is a lot that I have learned about working in a kitchen. I can now prepare egg and chicken mayonnaise, slice haggis and black pudding then box and date it, garnish plates and make sandwiches. I love being in a busy kitchen and seeing people in the café eat the food that I have prepared.

Chef has taught me that the meals we serve should be tasty and look good. When Café Coast was short listed for the 2009 Scottish Restaurant of the Year award, I felt proud to be part of it.

The programme has taught me other things aside from how to work in a kitchen. I have learned that it is important to arrive on time for work – Chef does not like us being late. I also know now that I must look smart so my whites are always washed and ironed. And I have learned that, in a kitchen, we must all work as a team.

My time at Café Coast has given me more confidence. I used to volunteer at a church café before joining the scheme, which I loved, but it was hard to see how it might lead to a job. Having the chance to train in a busy kitchen and work towards a qualification is brilliant. I feel it’s given me a great start in finding paid work.

• Paul Nicoll was talking to Julie Griffiths