Stage Three: Work and Independence
Weeks 5–6 of the Six-Week Pathway to Independence Programme. Real-world action: applying for work, contacting customers, launching services, starting business setup, or continuing towards readiness with structured support.
Week 5: Opportunity, Sales and Customer Skills
🔎 Core Session: Understanding Opportunities
All participants learn how opportunities are found through:
- Local employers
- Remote-work platforms
- Recruitment agencies
- Community networks
- Facebook groups
- Local directories
- Charities
- Housing associations
- Business groups
- Referrals, friends, family and existing contacts
📞 Core Session: Professional Communication
Participants practise:
- Telephone introductions
- Emails
- Messages
- Follow-ups
- Meeting preparation
- Asking questions
- Listening
- Explaining value
- Dealing with rejection
- Keeping records
💼 Employment Pathway Activity
- Identify suitable vacancies
- Adapt their CV
- Submit supported applications
- Contact employers
- Practise interviews
- Request adjustments
- Create follow-up messages
- Record every application
🧑💻 Freelance & Business Pathway Activity
- Build a list of potential customers
- Research customer problems
- Create an outreach message
- Prepare a telephone script
- Learn basic sales conversations
- Practise discussing prices
- Handle objections
- Begin contacting real prospects
What Sales Actually Means
Participants learn that sales is not:
- Begging for an opportunity
- Pressuring people
- Lying about experience
- Being the cheapest
- Sending identical spam to everybody
Good sales means:
- ✓Understanding a problem
- ✓Offering a relevant solution
- ✓Communicating clearly
- ✓Following up
- ✓Keeping promises
- ✓Delivering value
Week 6: AI Tools, Real Action and Progression Plan
Session 1: Building a Personal AI Toolkit
Every participant creates reusable AI prompts suited to their route.
💼 Employment Prompts
- Improve my CV
- Tailor my CV to a job
- Draft a cover letter
- Explain a job description
- Practise an interview
- Draft a follow-up email
- Identify transferable skills
- Request reasonable adjustments
🧑💻 Freelance & Business Prompts
- Research a customer
- Write an introduction email
- Create a quotation
- Produce social media content
- Plan a sales call
- Write a follow-up message
- Create a service description
- Respond to a complaint
- Plan weekly tasks
- Review pricing
🌱 Personal-Support Prompts
- Explain a letter in simple language
- Prepare questions for an appointment
- Create a weekly routine
- Break a task into steps
- Organise a to-do list
- Improve a professional message
- Summarise meeting notes
Session 2: Live Action Session
Participants complete genuine actions with support — different for every participant, but the key requirement is that the action moves them forward. This may include:
- ✓Applying for jobs
- ✓Calling an employer
- ✓Sending business outreach
- ✓Creating a freelance profile
- ✓Publishing a business page
- ✓Registering as self-employed
- ✓Attending a housing appointment
- ✓Following up a rehabilitation referral
- ✓Contacting a volunteering provider
- ✓Opening a bank account
- ✓Completing identification applications
Session 3: Final Review
The mentor reviews:
- Housing situation
- Recovery and health support
- Benefits and finances
- Digital access
- Confidence
- Employment readiness
- Business readiness
- Applications made
- Customers contacted
- Referrals completed
- Remaining barriers
- Immediate risks
- Support required after the programme
Session 4: Ninety-Day Progression Plan
The participant creates a plan covering:
- What they will do weekly
- Appointments
- Applications
- Customer outreach
- Training
- Recovery activity
- Business setup
- Income goals
- Personal wellbeing
- Mentor support
- Referral follow-up
- Review dates