Noel Brannigan, 54, from Darlington, is celebrating finding a new job after becoming the 100th person TNG, a national welfare to work training provider, has helped from benefits and into employment since October 2009.

TNG delivers government programmes across the UK, and in Darlington is an end-to-end partner of A4e, delivering the a welfare to work contract committed to help the long term unemployed find a personalised route back into employment.
Noel was made redundant from his role as an industrial cleaner in December 2008. Having been a cleaner since leaving school, losing his job hit him hard but he was determined to get back into work quickly.

Despite searching for work, Noel realised that the recession was taking its toll. Vacancies were few and far between, and the longer Noel was out of work, the more worried he became about his chances of finding another job. Dependent on benefits and struggling to make ends meet, Noel became disheartened and his self esteem took a knock.

In August Noel sought help from TNG Darlington, in St Augustine's Way, where his adviser Wendy Cooke helped him with his job search.

Wendy helped Noel to refresh his CV, and tailor cover letters to each employer. Desperate to return to work, Noel said that while he was willing to turn his hand to anything, he would really like to return to what he knew best – industrial cleaning.

With this in mind, the TNG team pulled together and TNG Employer Relations Manager  in Darlington, Andy Fenner, approached the local businesses he had a relationship with, to find out if any of them had any job vacancies.

One company, MJF Cleaning, was considering taking somebody on, and so Noel sent his CV. He was called in for an interview, and was offered the job. After just two weeks with TNG, Noel was saying goodbye to the team, and go back to work.

Noel commented on his success, “Being out of work had left me feeling really low, and I was worried that having a gap in my CV would look bad to employers. Thanks to the help I received from TNG, I am enjoying being back at work, have made new friends and am feeling positive about the future. These days, I even look forward to Monday mornings!”

Tracy Farndale, Business Manager at TNG, said, “Noel is a great example of the work that TNG does in Darlington and across the North East. We helped him focus his job search, improve his CV and helped him to believe in himself so that when a job opportunity came up, he was successful. We are proud to have helped 100 people in Darlington improve their lives through finding employment, and we look forward to helping many more people in the region.”