Names
Jo Cashel

Age
42

Gender
Female

Professional background
Transposes film scripts

Educational ability
Many musical qualifications and teaching qualifications – nothing relevant

Family circumstances
Jo has two children aged 15 and 8.  She lives with her husband John who is a carpenter.  John and Jo share the job of breadwinner.  Currently they are also developing some property.

Economic profile
Good potential profile with property development looming but currently high borrowing to finance the building work and cash flow is an issue.

Why they used the service
Script writing comes in fits and starts – usually at the end of a series she is sent the tapes to transpose.  Jo could do with having a more regular income.  She has tried working at the school as a dinner lady but when the script work came in she had to give it up.  She also found the dinner ladies salary did not help much towards the bills. Jo takes in typing jobs and jobs writing up sheet music. She also does some telemarketing and reception work.  She has been to some customer sites to do filing, data entry and barwork

How it benefited them
They now have a significant second income but the major benefit to Jo has been that she is at home to answer calls about the development work they are undertaking.  This has allowed John to go back out to do some carpentry work, some of which has come through lifeworklife.  Jo can start and finish work when she likes which makes it easier for running domestic affairs.  Generally she works from home so she is also able to cope with children’s illnesses and really support her teenage daughter.

Names
Abbie Pickering

Age
38

Gender
Female

Professional background
Worked as a secretary and hairdresser

Educational ability
Some good vocational qualifications such as RSA typing, Shorthand etc

Family circumstances
Abbie and her husband moved to Austrailia.  He is a plumber and there was a shortage so they were given the opportunity to go and wanted to try it out.  They have three children aged 8, 6, 4.

Economic profile
The husband is the main wage earner and although the wages are not as high as in the uk the cost of living is also a lot lower.  They have a good standard of living, great house, good schools locally.  If they were in the UK they would fall in to the 30 – 40K per annum take home bracket.

Why they used the service
Abbie was able to get work in Australia but she could get paid more taking work from the UK.  They also intend to come back to England at some point and she did not want to loose touch with UK employers.  Abbie did not want to take an office job.  She had a great social network in Australia already through the schools and playgroup.  She also wanted to be able to control the hours she worked so that she could be available for the children during the day. Abbie takes audio typing assignments, she is helping companies do market research in Austrialia for launching British products, she also answers the telephone for companies at very odd times of the day!

How it benefited them

Names
Barry Withers

Age
28

Gender
Male

Professional background
.net editor and web site designer

Educational ability
Barry has four different computer science degrees, one masters degree and a doctorate from the open university

Family circumstances
Barry lives in a sheltered flat for disabled people.  He is unable to move very far from home unless he is accompanied.

Economic profile
Barry was dependant on disability benefits and help from his family.

Why they used the service
It is difficult for Barry to take a full time job, even working at home full time is difficult for him because he likes to be able to take off when ever he gets an opportunity to leave the flat with his friends.  Barry knows that he has highly developed skills and great qualifications, he is desperate to find work but on his terms.

How it benefited them
Barry is not longer dependant on benefits.  The huge boost to his confidence has kicked him further and further from the flat.  He is now a regular at his local pub and a member of their quiz team through a local business that used his services through lifeworklife.  Barry has made many friends.  He really enjoyed the anonymity of lifeworklife and was pleased to be seen just for his skills – for quite a while none of his customers knew he had a disability

Names
Colin McNeish

Age
18

Gender
Male

Professional background
Student going to study acting at drama school

Educational ability
Colin has a degree in drama and some experience working in building sites, shops and bars in his home town of Irving, Ayrshire.

Family circumstances
Colin’s family cannot afford to pay for him to go and study at drama school.  He has managed to secure a grant but cannot pay for his living expenses.  Because he is studying drama he knows that when he finishes his course he is unlikely to be able to get work straight away which makes him nervous about taking a student loan.

Economic profile
Student

Why they used the service
Colin needed to find work prior to going to drama school so he opened a lifeworklife account in June.  He managed to build up a good reputation on the site in many fields over the summer months and also managed to save some money towards his living expenses for the first 6 weeks.  Colin wanted to be able to see what type of jobs would be available in London and what were the best paid jobs in that area so that he could plan how he would work college around his life.

How it benefited them
The building work had begun for the Olympic games and Colin found that the sites were working most of the night. He also found that accommodation in the East End of London was cheaper than elsewhere.  Colin had three main customers for his labouring skills and his bar work.  He was also able to plan his return to Ayrshire when the holidays came about and began to look for work nearer home.  In the aspirations section of his profile Colin detailed the type of acting he wanted to do.  Colin was offered acting work through lifeworklife and over the course of the 2 year programme he moved in to the field he wanted to work in.  He did not need to worry about paying back any student loan and was more than solvent at the end of his college course.  Colin was also regularly doing the job of his dreams!  He continues to use lifeworklife both for acting work and for between jobs work. 

Roles change as businesses grow and individuals change as their priorities alter during all of life’s phases.  Lifeworklife provides a place where change is embraced and control is maintained, simply, effectively and with a sense of fair play and fun!