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CHAPTER 14
Realising the potential of older workers in Scotland 275

Box 14.1. Case study – Building confidence

Jane had successfully owned her own business, a café, for over 25 years
and was actively involved in the day-to-day operations until a serious
health issue was diagnosed. The condition was directly linked to years of
working in a kitchen and she was advised that she could no longer
continue working in this environment. Eventually, Jane was forced to sell
her business and, having been divorced for several years and in her early
fifties, her personal circumstances dictated that, financially, she would
have to continue working.
Jane joined the programme during the transition of her business being
sold. She initially felt that she had no skills or experience and was
beginning to really worry about what employment opportunities were
available to her. The programme encouraged her to look at the skills she
used in running her own business and before long, she had a list that
included dealing with the public, customer service, marketing and
promotion, recruiting and managing staff, dealing with complaints, as well
as an array of financial skills.
Through group discussions and personalised support, Jane’s confidence
increased and her motivation for moving forward positively emerged. She
also started to think about what she enjoyed doing in her spare time and
realised that the tourism sector was something she would be interested
in exploring further.
She applied to work at a local hotel as a breakfast assistant; however, the
employer was so impressed she was offered a supervisory position due
to her wealth of experience and breadth of skills. Jane continued to learn
and develop her personal interest, which was focused on becoming a tour
guide, while she was working and eventually moved into the Tourism
sector working with a national tourism organisation by the end of the
programme.

Stage 3. Seminar programme
This stage was created as a result of feedback from previous project activity
developed by the centre (Senior Studies Institute, 2006). Participant
comments have always been positive, but one question which continually
arose was ʻwhat do I do now?ʼ To address this issue, a seminar programme,