When Roger Kilburn was offered the chance of voluntary redundancy he was in two minds.

Although it suited him to leave the firm where he had been for 26 years, he knew he would need a new part-time job to balance his finances. Roger, 53, from Bingley, had been a project manager for Grattan and after deciding to accept redundancy was eager to find a new part-time post. He got exactly what he wanted thanks to POPE (People Of Previous Experience), the recruitment agency for people over the age of 40 set up by Bradford TEC.

Roger said: "I attended a POPE course because I knew that after 26 years with the same company I had to brush up my skills. I simply wanted a change and POPE gave me the confidence and the know how to go for it. I was particularly impressed by what they told me about being positive, how to prepare for a job interview and how to write a CV.

Roger, who is married and has two grown up children, now works as a customer services officer at the NatWest call centre in Bradford.