Bradford and Leeds week - Transform (the interview)

Arriving at Leeds station Thursday lunchtime I was picked up and taken to Fred Shed, where a variety of Christian organisations are based. After a little wait I had my interview for the Transform programme. The programme consists of training on Monday (including theology, team time and practical training too), a 15-hour placement, a 5-hour place, a part-time job and a mentor.

It’s been quite a while since I had an interview, in fact I’ve only had four in my life. My first was a Marks and Spencer telephone interview, which I failed (how am I supposed to know what you do if someone comes in with a faulty item and has no receipt – surely that’s what training is for?!?). Then there was my Wilkinson interview which basically consisted of “do you want the job?” and checking I didn’t have a criminal record. So the only two proper interviews I’ve had were for Bank of England and HM Treasury, which both went well, but I was still a bit apprehensive as it’d been a while, but figured I’d just be honest and hope I didn’t put my foot in it. The first question was something along the lines of “how do you feel you have developed over last year”, and after about 5 minutes (at least) of chatting I decided I’d better stop...

The whole interview was generally pretty relaxed, as they’re ‘on your side’ as it were. Their aim is to assess whether it is the right thing for you, and if that’s the case then it’s probably the right thing for them, as it means you’ll make the best use of their funding. This made it fairly easy just to be open and honest and it was really encouraging just to chat through ideas and expectations, and to be able to ask them a few questions too.

One question that was very thought-provoking was when I was asked whether I found it easier to relate to people on the margins than the middle classes. Thinking about it I guess I do. I suppose I find a lot of people, including Christians, are very closed and ask very questions about the things around them, let alone of themselves and what they believe. People you might describe as 'marginalised' seem altogether more raw, open, honest, and have a vulnerability about them once you get to know them beyond their sometimes strong front. There is a depth, a story, which I think I can appreciate more, a sense in which I can see a way out for this person, that even if they don't know exactly what they're doing wrong, they know something needs to change. Contrast this with the middle-class independence and individualism which always says "I am right", "there's nothing wrong with me", "as long as I keep myself to myself that's all that matters", an attitude that really just wants me to bang my head against the wall. I think that's a question that I'm going to keep exploring for some time yet.

On Friday night I got an answer phone message to say that I’d been accepted, so it’s now just up for me to decide for certain whether to do it, which looks likely, and then to sort out the location and placements. It's all looking pretty exciting.

Bradford and Leeds week - looking to next year

Straight from New Word Alive (see my other, ongoing posts), I arrived in Bradford late on Saturday and am here until Easter Sunday thinking and praying about what I'll be doing next year. One option I have is to do a course called Transform. This is run by a group of Christians, originally based in Leeds but since expanding to include Bradford. It consists of training on Mondays (theology and practical guidance such as time management), a 5-hour placement, a 15-hour placement and a part-time job.

My interview for it is on Thursday and in addition during this week I'm taking the chance to look at different places I could do some of my placements if I do the year.

I'm also looking into an organisation called Christians Against Poverty (CAP). CAP are a debt counselling service that also offer money management courses, and whilst centrally run from their offices in Bradford most of their direct work with the people in need is done in centres around the UK that are run by and partnered with local churches. They are an explicitly Christian group, partly given their name but also through the offering of prayer on their first meeting. There's no hidden agenda, nor any need for the service users to be Christian, it's just, well, if you have faith in Christ then it'd be a bit harsh to just help someone with their earthly debts and not tell them how they can sort out their spiritual debts and be set free!

CAP offer their own internship scheme, called Reach, which sees you working Monday to Thursday with on-the-job training, and then Fridays are set aside for management-based training. There are five streams (Client, Communications, Evangelism and Discipleship, IT, and Partnership) and each offers a different challenge and opportunity to help make a difference to many people's lives. Whatever happens, it's just great to find out more about the work they do.

I'll give some updates throughout the week about how things are getting on.