There's nothing fishy about these Remploy candidates' new roles!

The careers of two deaf men from Birmingham are going swimmingly thanks to them landing roles as aquarium technicians. Robin Lodge from Ward End and Amarjit Sembi from Handsworth have been supported into their new careers at award-winning aquarium company Aquamacs in Camp Hill by Remploy, the UKís leading provider of employment services for disabled people.

The pair now maintain, repair and install aquariums at businesses, conference centres and hospitals across the UK, regularly travelling to London, Bedford, Oxford and sites across the Midlands. They are part of just a three-man-team working alongside technical consultant Dave Fraser, at Aquamacsí new division in Birmingham.

Both Amarjit and Robin are profoundly deaf and struggled to find fulfilling employment before visiting Remployís city centre branch on Newhall Street. The team there worked to increase Amarjit and Robinís confidence, helped them put together CVís, and identified the vacancies at Aquamacs.

Previously, Amarjit was made redundant from his warehousing job and then found it impossible to find a suitable long-term role.

ìIt was very hard to find work and it really started to stretch my patience,î said Amarjit. ìLuckily the Jobcentre recommended I visit Remploy. My employment advisor at the branch arranged a signer, we discussed what roles I was interested in, and they helped me search through newspapers and apply for roles.î

Robinís background was similar. Having been made redundant from a window company, he was out of work for two years before visiting the Remploy Birmingham branch with Amarjit, an old school friend of his.

Robin said: ìItís great to be learning new things now after being out of work for so long. I didnít know anything about tropical fish before, but itís becoming quite an interest now. Iíve really got my confidence back and love going out and about visiting customers.î

Ensuring the cleanliness of the aquariums and welfare of the exotic fish can be highly technical and both Robin and Amarjit have undergone strenuous on-the-job training.

Their supervisor Dave, who is planning to start British Sign Language courses shortly, said: ìItís been great working with Robin and Amarjit, although some of the signs weíve come up with arenít very conventional! I wasnít at all daunted by working with deaf people and itís been great to see how interested our customers are in communicating with them both. Theyíre real characters and Iíd have no hesitation in recommending working with Remploy candidates to other employers.

ìBoth Robin and Amarjit have real skills and are now sufficiently trained to work independently, which is a real asset in a division of our size.î

Local employers or job seekers with disabilities or health conditions are encouraged to contact the Remploy branch at 98 Newhall Street, Birmingham, Tel: 0845 155 2557.