New skills have put a South Wales father and son firmly back on their feet again after they suffered redundancy.

Former retail workers David, 53, and Adam Bradbury, 22 , from Rogerstone, Newport, worked with furniture giant MFI for a total of nearly 30 years until the firm shut down in November 2008.

However, after months of anxiety and fruitless job searching, they are now in line for promising new careers, thanks to a Welsh Contact Centre Forum pre-employment training course.

The intensive free programme helped them understand the workings of a contact centre, the skills needed and the career progression routes.

After training and interviews organised through the course, the duo landed jobs at the Cardiff Gate base of international outsourcing contact centre, Conduit, whose clients include Vodafone, Sky and BT Global Services.

David said: “A career change was initially unwelcome but it gave me a bit of a new lease of life. The work is interesting and my customer service skills have transferred easily.”

Both are already thinking of further training and progression. David said “We’re very much encouraged to think about moving upwards and in different directions, whether into coaching or management. The management team are so approachable that it’s easy to chat with them about things like that.”

Adam, who has also achieved a Sport Coaching qualification, wants to adapt these skills so he can get involved in leading team meetings along with training other staff members.

Sandra Busby, managing director of the Welsh Contact Centre Forum said: “The schemes help hundreds of people like David and Adam. It’s great to hear they’re doing so well in their new roles.”

This news came at the same time as ITV visited Conduit in Cardiff, using its growth in a news report highlighting the first drop in UK unemployment figures for 18 months.

The contact centre has increased its workforce from 1,500 to 2,500 over the past 12 months, driven by significant expansion of existing contracts with Sky and Vodafone.

It has also won substantial work from the UK Department of Health and the 999 Emergency Services for Ireland.

The broadcaster used Conduit’s recruitment drive as evidence that despite the general bad economic news of the past two years, certain companies were thriving.

The report was broadcast on Wednesday 20 January and can be viewed here.

The firm’s Sales Director, Stuart Staples, said the growth was a result of delivering higher performance, flexibility and value for money than its competitors and on a relentless focus on making the client’s business better.