College Facilities
A successful partnership ‘Gets Britain Working’
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 the 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. Please contact Dianne Ashton at JobCentrePlus on 01524 598006 or dianne.ashton@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk to find out more about the scheme.
