Michelle Burgoine, Litigation Support Analyst

I had been working in the IT industry for 13 years when I was made redundant. My career had started off with data entry, progressed to running helpdesks and I had spent the last 3 years working on specific projects for my firm. When I was made redundant I found it very difficult to find a job, as my project work was very company specific and it was difficult to apply that to other roles. Feeling more than a little disillusioned, I decided to use my redundancy money and go travelling. Despite the fact that this meant I would be away from IT for another 2 years, this was probably the only time I would have the opportunity to travel, so I took it. When I returned to the UK, I faced the same problem, but now it was even worse. I’d been away from IT for 2 years, so my technical knowledge and references were way out of date. At first I temped as a secretary, but then I managed to get a job contracting on a firm wide rollout of Outlook. Even so, I wasn’t really involved in the technical side and travelled to their regional offices swapping hard disks and finishing off a pre-defined set up process. My contract finished in July and I decided that I wanted to find a permanent role. Again I found it very difficult, although I had experience, my technical skills were outdated. I signed up with lots of agencies, but after initial interest, they couldn’t even get me an interview. Eventually I applied for a role advertised at ITS. I went in to meet them and spent nearly an hour talking through my experience and what I wanted from my next role. ITS At Law identified skills that I had completely overlooked and suggested a role not dissimilar, to one I had held several years previously. Within a week I had my first interview and I was called back for a second interview a week later. The day after that, I was offered the job. I never expected to have such an opportunity and I’m now working in a near perfect role. My experience that I’d forgotten about, ITS At Law identified and they were able to use their knowledge to match me with the perfect role. My employer had been searching for the right candidate for several months, so for me, it was very much a case of being in the right place at the right time. And ITS were able to see that and match me with the right job.

Michelle Burgoine, Litigation Support Analyst