Hard hats off to Louise

Louise Metcalfe has the drive and determination to succeed in the male-dominated industry of street works. All she needed was help in finding the right training to move closer to her goal. With encouragement from Triage under the Restart Scheme, she joined a course at a construction and civil engineering skills academy – and is proving to be a star pupil!

“I’ve worked in construction offices, but I want to work on projects in street works,” says Louise, aged 45. “These are not roles you find women doing but I don’t care.”

Working on roads to maintain utilities such as water, gas, electricity and telecommunications is a male-dominated industry. After any excavation work, roads must be reinstated and resurfaced to certain standards. Louise is particularly interested in that aspect of street works, as well as health and safety. “It’s going to be difficult as I think there’s still a lot of sexist attitudes in the industry, but it won’t stop me doing what I want,” says Louise.

She had been unemployed for a year when she joined the Restart Scheme, which is delivered by Triage in North East England. Under the Department for Work and Pensions’ scheme, people who have been out of work for 12 months or more are given tailored support to improve their skills and find a job.

Louise was put in touch with Triage adviser Ash and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of support she was given. “Ash has helped with everything,” she says. “I brought a list of courses I wanted to do to my first appointment. Ash then found what I needed. She’s been supportive and helpful all the time.”

After Louise registered on the training course, the tutors told Triage they were thrilled that a woman had been put forward. Louise was not just the only woman on the course – she was the first to have ever participated!

Since joining the training academy, Louise has received great feedback on her progress. In the first week, when completing the street works part of the course, she was the only participant to pass the test first time. Proof that if you have a dream – you should go for it!

Louise couldn’t be more grateful to Triage for the support she received. “Nothing is too much trouble, they all go above and beyond,” she adds. “They encouraged me to go for what I wanted to do. Triage offer so much to help, beyond just job searching, and everyone’s so nice.”