Pictured above: Rosa Foryszewski, feeding a lemur, is looking forward to a career caring for animals after Pertemps People Development Group arranged a work experience placement at Birmingham Nature Centre

After a paws for thought and some help from her furry friends Birmingham teenager Rosa Foryszewski has decided on the exciting new career path she wants to follow.

The unemployed 18-year-old, from Great Barr, is keen to build a career in animal care after enjoying a five-week work placement at the Birmingham Nature Centre in Pershore Road, Edgbaston.

Rosa fell in love with the diverse mix of animals including meerkats, wallabies, snakes, lizards, goats, lemurs, owls and eagles. She now wants to study for qualifications that would enable her to work at a vet's practice or animal sanctuaries and zoos.

Her work placement was organised by employment experts Pertemps People Development Group (PPDG) through the Government-funded Work Focused Training initiative which provides vocational training opportunities and employability skills to 18 to 24-year-olds.

The initiative is part of the Government's Backing Young Britain campaign, in partnership with the Future Jobs Fund and the Community Taskforce, which encourages organisations to provide young people with the opportunities they need to get into work. PPDG is providing vocational training linked to the needs of the local labour market that progresses young people towards the achievement of full Level 2 or 3 vocational qualifications that can be continued in work or around work if required.

PPDG multi-functional trainer Dylan Simkin, based at the company's Newtown Advancement Centre, said Rosa was shy when she was first referred to him but they immediately found they had something in common - Rosa has a pet rabbit called Dylan. They talked about working with animals and discovered it was a possibility she wanted to explore further. She then flourished during her work placement at the nature centre.

Dylan said: "It has been a very successful placement for Rosa and I know she has gained a lot from it. Rosa has excelled and, rather than waiting to be asked to do work, she has been using her own initiative and has helped with feeding and cleaning all the animals. It has made her decide that she wants a career working with animals and she now wants to go to college to study animal care."

With further support from PPDG, Rosa has completed a City & Guilds Employability Skills Level 1, as well as C&G literacy and numeracy level 1 qualifications.

Rosa, whose favourite animals at the centre were the meerkats, said: "I really enjoyed feeding the animals and the general day to day care. I got such a lot out of my placement and I know I would really like to work in animal care in the future."

PPDG demonstrated its support for the work of the Birmingham Nature Centre by donating £500 from its Give As You Earn payroll giving scheme. The money will be used to help the centre's efforts to encourage red squirrel conservation.

PPDG's team of employment experts provide advice on benefits, confidence building, one-to-one support, CV and interview preparation as well as finding the right job or training course. In partnership with DWP, the Ministry of Justice and Jobcentre Plus, PPDG delivers a diverse range of employment and training initiatives including Flexible New Deal, Working Neighbourhoods Fund, Learndirect and many ESF funded programmes.

More than 100,000 job seekers have been helped into sustained employment by the company since the projects began. It has trained 130,000 people in vocational skills, and over 175,000 people have benefitted from professional information, advice and guidance services.