Express & Star

With her dirty jumpsuit and steel toe-capped boots, the mother-of-five behind the welding mask is used to people reacting with great surprise.

But Yvette Moseley, from Fordhouses in Wolverhampton, just loves getting her hands dirty and has trained as a welder after finding a teaching assistant course was not for her. The married 40-year-old has sailed through her training at Wolverhampton College. She had initially enrolled at the college with dreams of becoming a teaching assistant.

But after speaking to a Skills into Jobs officer she embarked on an engineering course and has not looked back since.

Yvette said she hoped her sudden career change would encourage other women to go along a similar path.

“I originally wanted to become a teaching assistant but writing an essay had me stumped,” she said today.

“A project officer for Skills into Jobs suggested I try welding because I was more of a hands-on person and was always messing with my car.

“I gave it a go and am really enjoying it. I am so glad they suggested it to me.”

Yvette completed a level one welding course before moving on to a level two course in fabrication and welding.

And her new talent has proved a hit with her children, who are constantly finding projects to put her new-found skills to good use.

“My daughters are proud of me and they talk about what I am doing to their friends,” she said. And my husband wants me to build a go-kart, while my son has asked me to weld the exhaust for his motorbike.”

Yvette is now undertaking her Coding in Welding and hopes to find a job with her new qualifications.

More than 1,200 unemployed residents from across the region have benefited from the Skills into Jobs project, which is funded by the Black Country Learning and Skills Council as part of its regional European Social Fund co-financing programme.