Luton student goes from JSA to dream airport role thanks to Prince's Trust

The Prince's Trust is reaching out to Luton youngsters, as the story of an ambitious airport worker shows the charity can turn lives around.
Above: Sadhia. You can call the Princes Trust on: 0800 842 842Above: Sadhia. You can call the Princes Trust on: 0800 842 842
Above: Sadhia. You can call the Princes Trust on: 0800 842 842

The Prince’s Trust recently launched its annual Macquarie Youth Index, a report gauging how young people feel about life and the future.

However, their research for the East of England revelealed that more than a third of young people (43 per cent) fear the economy will provide fewer jobs for their generation in the next three years.

After hearing the damning news, the charity wished to share the story of Luton employee, Sadhia Riaz, 28, who came to them for help and has seen her career fly sky high to her dream airport role.

Sadhia said: “I wasn’t the type to study - I just couldn’t sit down.I wished I had achieved better GCSE grades. I decided to go to college to study Travel and Tourism, but an early bus journey as well as a part-time job was too much, and I dropped out at Level 3.”

After a string of mundane jobs to earn money Sadhia lost her aviation ambition, and after Christmas work at Amazon ended, fed up Sadhia had to claim Job Seeker’s Allowance.

However, at a visit to the Job Centre she heard about the Prince’s Trust Get Into Airports Scheme.

Sadhia said: “I was selected for the programme which was held at London Luton Airport.

“We had two weeks of confidence building, working on our CVs, and two weeks of work experience – I was in a duty free shop. After I finished, I handed my CV to Menzies Aviation and finally had interview confidence!

“I’ve been there for four years and I am now a Passenger Service Agent and trainer.

“The Prince’s Trust was a turning point - before I was scared of failure and focussing on the past and not the future.”

Sadhia is also studying a university course in Aviation and Airport Management, and had the the opportunity to visit Malaysia and Singapore.

The Prince’s Trust is holding a Get Into Airports ground handling course from February 5 to 16.