A Successful Partnership ‘gets Britain Working'

By Author: Fat Media
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Lancaster and Morecambe College has worked with national supermarket chain Sainsbury's and JobCentrePlus to help reduce local unemployment

Sainsbury's, JobCentrePlus and Lancaster and Morecambe College have worked in partnership to deliver a sector based work academy, one of the Governments ‘Get Britain Working' measures to support job seekers into employment.

Twelve participants undertook a 2 week training course at Lancaster and Morecambe College, where they gained qualifications in Customer Service, Food Hygiene, Health and Safety and Manual Handling.

They then went on to a week's work experience placement at Sainsbury's, followed by a guaranteed interview in which 5 of the 12 were successful in gaining paid employment with Sainsbury's.

Sue Keenan from Lancaster and Morecambe College said, "This is great way for employers to ‘try before they buy' when it comers to hiring staff. The college training is funded by the Government and there is no cost to the employer other than to facilitate a work placement and offer a guaranteed interview"

Sam Bajgar, HR Manager from Sainsbury's said; "The ...
... scheme has been a great success attracting some strong candidates. It was a great benefit that we were able to give the applicants hands on experience of working in retail before the interview. We look forward to working with JobCentrePlus and Lancaster and Morecambe College in the future to support our recruitment."

The sector based work academy is available to all employers, and can be tailored to meet recruitment needs, providing you with the opportunity to recruit staff with the right training and skills from the outset.

Working in partnership with Sainsbury's isn't the only thing that Lancaster and Morecambe College is doing to help people into work. Thanks to the 100 in 100 campaign, the University of Cumbria plans to grow its team of Apprentices by taking on two more new apprentices.

The Personnel team at the University currently have one apprentice from Lancaster and Morecambe College and have been so impressed with her work that they have now decided to employ two more apprentices to join the university doing Business Administration.

With 91 Apprentices already signed up into new positions across the local area thanks to the scheme, the additional vacancies created by the university are getting the campaign very close to the 100 job mark!

Terri Moore, aged 17, from Heysham started her Apprenticeship with the University of Cumbria in September and has really excelled in her role.

‘I am really enjoying my apprenticeship, it's brilliant. I do lots of different tasks within my role as a Business Administration Apprentice and I am learning so much.'

Like many other Apprenticeships, the Business Administration course offers the flexibility for Apprentices and Employers to specialise in the area that they are particularly interested in. Terri who has recently finished her schooling at Heysham High School, commented:

‘I am particularly pleased to have found a position within a Human Resources department as I plan to be a HR assistant in the future so this is the ideal job for me. I am really hoping that I will be able to progress to a job in this department when I have completed my Apprenticeship as I really love working here.'

By becoming a vital part of the team, Terri has inspired the University of Cumbria to take another step in supporting the scheme by creating two new positions for Business Administration Apprentices within the university.