Jobs boost for city's young unemployed
More than 300 unemployed young people attended the Future Jobs Fund Jobs Fair at the REP theatre in Birmingham on Saturday 5 December.
Over 20 employers were there to talk to them about the 600 job vacancies on offer and to arrange interviews with interested candidates. Employers included Birmingham City Council, hospital and primary care trusts and a number of major third sector organisations. Jobcentre Plus advisers were also on hand to give advice.
Among the vacancies available were opportunities in administration, marketing, youth and play work, construction/maintenance, sports coaching, recording studio assistants and nursery nursing. The young people who attended left with a total of 700 interviews between them.
Michael Middleton, client support officer from local charity The Jericho Foundation, said: “I was very impressed by the calibre of the young people who came to the jobs fair. They were well presented and keen to work; certainly not the image we are often given of young people who are claiming benefits.”
One of the young people interviewed on leaving said: “I’ve been unemployed for 10 months, have applied for so many jobs but most don’t reply and I have never been offered an interview. Today I got offered two interviews and I should have a job by Christmas.”
Another young person who had secured five interviews at the event said: “I found the jobs fair very interesting and I’m glad I came along. I like the fact that there’s so much choice and all the advisers have been a great help. Thank you all very much.”
The Future Jobs Fund is £1 billion Government programme to support the creation of jobs for long term unemployed young people and others who face significant disadvantage in getting into employment. In Birmingham, the £11 million citywide programme is managed by Be Birmingham, the city’s local strategic partnership. Over 150 people have already found work through the fund and this number is growing all the time.
Jon Wright, Birmingham and Solihull Jobcentre Plus district manager, said: “The jobs fair was a great example of partnership working between Be Birmingham and Jobcentre Plus in helping the young unemployed people of Birmingham and Solihull back to work.”
Ian Ellis, Future Jobs Fund manager, Be Birmingham, said: “Our first jobs fair, run jointly with Jobcentre Plus, was a great success both for the employers who took part and the young people who came along. By working closely with our partners we matched hundreds of young people with job vacancies in just one day. We are aiming to provide work for up to 2,000 unemployed people across the city in total and we will be running similar events in the near future to build on this success.”
Be Birmingham (www.bebirmingham.org.uk) is the city’s local strategic partnership that brings together partners from the business, community, voluntary, faith and public sectors to deliver a better quality of life in Birmingham.
- The Future Jobs Fund is a £1 billion national government programme to support the creation of jobs for long term unemployed young people and others who face significant disadvantage in getting into employment. It provides six months’ paid employment for those in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance who have been unemployed for between 39 and 50 weeks.
- The Future Jobs Fund will provide funding for 150,000 jobs – 100,000 for young people and 50,000 for unemployment hotspots.
- Bids to the Future Jobs Fund can be submitted at any time.
- Bids are assessed against key criteria:
