Organised by Jobcentre Plus, they will take place at the Crowne Plaza in Speke and Holiday Inn at St John’s Shopping Centre, and will offer a mix of seasonal and permanent vacancies. Tony McDonough reports
Two jobs fairs offering around 1,200 mainly retail and call centre vacancies are being held in Liverpool this month.
Organised by Jobcentre Plus, the fairs will take place at the Crowne Plaza in Speke on Friday, September 20, and Holiday Inn Hotel at St John’s Shopping Centre on Friday, September 27.
The Speke event will is offering around 200 seasonal vacancies for well known retailers at the New Mersey Retail Park in Speke. They include New Look, Next, Smyths Toys, Boots, Crowne Plaza, Foot Asylum, JD Sports, McDonalds and Marks & Spencer.
There will be more than 1,000 vacancies on offer at the city centre event a week later. Again, many of these will be seasonal jobs leading up to the festive period but also will include permanent vacancies, too.
Companies taking part, include Primark, Tesco, TK Maxx, Crowne Plaza, JD Sports, McDonalds, Card Factory, Hilton Hotel, Iceland, River Island as well as call centre operator The Contact Company.
Mentoring project
Jobcentre Plus is also launching a new initiative called Mentoring Circles. Aimed at younger adults the schemes sees representatives from employers take part in three, two-hour workshops consisting of activities designed to motivate and inspire participants to plan their future.
Jobcentre Plus spokesperson Gemma Batchelor told LBN: “The employers give an outline of their journeys to show how life can change and goals can be achieved if you work hard enough. They then ask the individuals to talk about themselves and what they want to do.
“Employers are from a range of different sectors including construction, self-employment, recruitment, utilities, hospitality, charities, and we are continuing to add to the portfolio each month. Marks & Spencer are interested in becoming involved, too.”
Early in 2020 Jobcentre Plus in Merseyside will work in partnership with Blackburne House in Liverpool to run a mentoring programme for women. It will also work with prison work coaches to offer the sessions to young offenders.
Construction shortage
Ms Batchelor also said there continues to be opportunities to work in the Liverpool city region construction sector where there remains a skills shortage. She added: “We have created a database of customers who want to work in the sector and successfully developed training packages to up skill customers to meet the demands of the contractors.
“The most successful being the CCDO (Certificate required to work in Demolition) training which was identified as skill shortage in Merseyside in December 2018. Utilising LVP we have ensured 90% of those who achieved the CCDO are in sustainable employment.”
Step Into Work is another Jobcentre Plus programme aimed at adults, offering a bespoke NHS curriculum designed by NHS in partnership with Health Education England and the DWP. Working with NHS trusts across the North West the programme comprises six weeks of training if there are vacancies and 10 weeks, including two weeks of training and an eight-week placement if there are no vacancies.
The health and social care is the biggest employer in Merseyside and is struggling to fill vacancies. Work going on across the region to address the issues and DWP are supporting the sector.
New data released by the Office for National Statistics shows that across the North West, the number of people now in employment is 3.48m – up 36,000 on the year and the unemployment level in the region currently stands at 158,000.
Find out about the latest Jobcentre Plus vacancies on Twitter by following @JCPinMerseyside and also follow @PeteJamiesonDWP for update about employers working in partnership with job centre staff.