DFPF Ltd (trading as Dairy Farm Training & People 1st) is a training establishment based throughout Northern Ireland offering Government funded training schemes such as Training for Success, Apprenticeship NI and Steps to Work for the unemployed.

DFPF Ltd wished to help trainees to understand their strengths and weaknesses better to enable them to make more informed choices when seeking employment and training opportunities.

MindMill assessments were used as part of the career guidance process. The MindMill system helps young people and adults become aware of their personal skills, qualities, aptitudes and interests in order to enhance their decision making ability when establishing future career paths which best suit them.
Every trainee receives a MindMill report which can act as a discussion aid between the trainee and mentor. DFPF Ltd Job Mentors are now fully trained on using the MindMill system to help them match Training for Success learners and Steps to Work participants to their natural vocational training areas.

After the first quarter of using the assessments, DFPF Ltd carried out a review to determine the success of using the MindMill Assessments. 75% of the trainees indicated they found the assessments useful. When asked why they found it useful, various reasons included;

• ‘It helped me to find my career choice’
• ‘Was useful to find out what other jobs I might be interested in’
• ‘It confirmed I am on the correct career path’
• ‘To help me find the job I want’
• ‘To see what I would be good at’

Trainees were asked if they agreed with their results and 85.7% answered yes. Lastly, the trainees were asked if they would like to complete the assessment at some stage in the future to see if their results have changed and 85.7% indicated yes.

Overall, the use of assessments to help align trainees to suitable career paths is proving to be successful within DFPF Ltd.