Waitress Kasia lands job over lunch

Jul 4 2008

Ascots firm hired a new receptionist after being impressed when she served lunch.

Bosses at safety training company firm Cresent spotted Kasia Uchaniuk while she was working in a restaurant.

However, the Polish economics and international relations graduate still had difficulties speaking English.

But as part of her new job she went to English classes to help her conquer the language barrier.

The dedicated 27-year-old also supplemented those lessons by watching hours of films such as Oliver Twist, the Wizard of Oz and the Sound of Music to hone her skills.

Tracie Watson, finance and HR director at Aberdeen-based Cresent, said: "My colleagues and I got to know Kasia at a local restaurant we use a lot.

"She had all the qualities we would look for in an employee, and when our receptionist's position became available we had no hesitation in offering it to her.

"Though her English wasn't perfect, we knew we could help her with this."

Kasia moved to the UK when she was 24 after finishing her economics and international trade studies at Warsaw School of Economics in Poland.

She said: "When I first came to the UK, my English wasn't very good and I wanted to improve my language.

"For many Polish people, the language barrier makes people's lives more difficult because they cannot get a job appropriate to their qualifications."

Cresent specialises in the safety training programmes for the oil and gas industry with clients including BP, Shell and ExxonMobil.