Curious about self-employment or business?
Try our Taster Course!
This course is the fun and engaging opportunity to explore how self-employment or developing business skills could offer exciting new opportunities, providing information about starting and succeeding in business.
It’s a great fit if you're...
• Interested in business but unsure where to start.
• Considering self-employment but don’t know who to speak to.
• In work but want to improve your income or career options.
• Unsure about what help is out there to help you explore your options.
• Excited by business, but haven't experienced or know anyone whose done anything similar before.
• Not feeling ready or able to commit to anything big.
• Feel like previous learning or work experiences haven't supported you to succeed, even though you have more to give.
This Course Will
• Grow useful skills to use to start a business or thrive in the workplace.
• A 121 coach ask questions and find your next steps.
• Strengthen your CV by showing skills useful to employers.
• Help you meet like-minded people exploring steps towards their next chapter.
• Grow your courage speaking and managing nerves (great for interviews!).
• Recognise your learning achievement with a certificate.
You Will Learn
• How to identify what makes your skills and interests unique.
• What self-employment can offer as a career pathway.
• How to come up with and test a business idea.
• How to communicate confidently in professional situations.
• How to grow your professional contacts and find opportunities.
Delivery Options and Eligibility
• 8 hours of learning (4 x 2-hour sessions).
• 2 x hours of 121 learning support.
• Available face-to-face, online or ‘complete at home’.
• Free to individuals aged 19+, who live in a North East postcode and are unemployed or earning less than £30,000 annually.
Hear from our learners
• 100% of last year’s leaners reported the learning was Excellent or Very Good
• 100% reported they would value further enterprise learning from FIRST
“It definitely has helped me. Before I wasn’t that confident, and I wouldn’t take initiative in fear of rejection. But now I want to do what is my mission, which I found on this course, which is to be a coach.”