Case study : I've never looked back - I gained the skills I needed

GRAHAM Crawford, from Addiewell in West Calder, spent the 18 months after leaving school working for family and friends on a casual basis.

When the opportunity came up to work for two weeks for no pay at Northern British Distillery in West Calder he jumped at the chance, even though there was no guarantee of a job.

He said: "I went in August, but they said there wasn't a job going at the time."

However, the 18-year-old worked so hard in his fortnight at the firm that they created a role for him.

Martin Boyers, operations manager at the Muirhall distillery, said he had been impressed by the teenager's efforts.

He said: "We took on two people for work experience at the time, but we didn't know whether we would be able to take anyone on at that point.

"Graham came to us and fitted in straight away and went out of his way to impress us in everything we asked him to do, so we wanted to try to see if we could create an opportunity for him."

Earlier this month, the firm called Graham back and last week he started at the distillery in a full-time post as a warehouse assistant.

He said: "I had sent in an application before, but that hadn't been accepted.

"When I went there in August for work experience, they weren't taking anyone on at that time, but they phoned me with the next job that was going there."

For Graham it was finally the opportunity to branch out on his own and work independently of family and friends on a full-timer permanent basis.

He said: "I struggled to get on the job ladder after school and applied for lots of jobs with no success.

"I've never looked back - I gained all the skills I needed in the workplace to get a permanent job."

And he added: "I would definitely recommend to anyone they should try work experience as you never know what might come from it."