Rebecca (centre) had a lot on her shoulders when she was growing up.

"We moved around a lot and I must have moved schools four times which really affected me. Always being the new girl meant I was bullied quite badly and I used to hate going to school because I was scared."

After finishing school Rebecca undertook a number of short-term jobs but was always left disheartened when her contract wasn’t renewed.

Looking for work was really hard. I didn’t have the right experience under my belt so I never got offered anything. I searched and applied for thousands of jobs but I was always told I didn’t have enough experience, which made me feel even worse. It was a vicious cycle. I knew the gap on my CV was getting longer so I knew I had to do something.

Rebecca decided that as she couldn’t get paid work, she would volunteer her time in a local charity shop, so she could at least gain some retail experience and boost her confidence. Not long after, Rebecca heard about our Team programme, a 12-week personal development course designed to help unemployed young people gain the skills and confidence to turn their life around.

“It was the best 12 weeks of my life. Throughout the programme my confidence increased so much and I realised that I wanted to work in the retail sector.”

The Trust recommended Rebecca join the Make Your Mark programme after finishing the Team programme, which is an employability course run in partnership between The Prince’s Trust and Marks & Spencer (M&S). The four-week programme will give Rebecca on-the-job training and a dedicated M&S coach to find work in the retail sector.

I am desperate to create a life for myself and I think Make Your Mark will help me do just that. I want to feel financially stable and I will do all I can to make sure I get a job at the end of the programme.