News Release from Bury College
Employment Skills training has been running at Bury College for the last couple of years. This project is delivered as part of the B-Ready partnership which includes: Bury MBC, the Job Centre and Skills Funding Agency.
The training has helped 450 people who were out of work (including long term unemployed and recently redundant) with some securing employment with local businesses. Working with agencies to access funding, support is free* and aimed at helping those affected by the impact of the recession by giving them the skills they need to secure employment.
Examples of skills available include; help with CV writing, job applications, communication skills, interview preparation and presentation and individual assertiveness. In addition, training and skills opportunities are available in literacy, numeracy, computer skills, food hygiene, health and safety and infection control in order to add a little extra weight to a CV, or provide some up-to-date training for job applicants.
Recent successes include Daniel Bradbury, aged 21 from Bury. Daniel had been unemployed for 2 years when he embarked on the training with Bury College. Daniel improved his CV and interview skills, which gave him confidence when applying for work. Since completing the training, Daniel secured two positions, accepting a job at Peacocks in the new Rock Development as a Sales Colleague.
Bikram Kar, aged 37 from Prestwich, also gained a position in Bolton as a Stockroom Assistant at Next following completion of the Employment Skills training. Despite having a BA in Economics, a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management and six years experience as a senior sales executive, gained whilst in India, Bikram found it difficult to gain employment in the UK.
Bikram said, “I’d like to thank my tutor, Lynne Woods at Bury College, for all her ongoing support. This included keeping me up to date with job vacancies in Bury. The skills I’ve learnt from the course have helped me in my job role and I’d definitely recommend it to other people who are unemployed.”
In addition, Shirley Currie who is from Bury secured employment with Matalan, Bolton as Deputy Manager after being unemployed for about 6 months and Hilary Mallins, age 49 from Bury, gained IT skills which gave her the skills she needed to change her career direction.
Training is aimed at helping people gain the skills they need to re-enter the labour market as quickly as possible. In addition to those who have secured work, some learners progress onto further training to help them gain their dream job.
Anthony Branagan, aged 28 from Bury, was long term unemployed when Bury Employment Support and Training (Best) encouraged him to enrol on the Employment Skills training with Bury College. The course helped Anthony gain new skills and rekindled his passion for cooking and he has since secured a place on a Level 2 Catering course at Bury College. Anthony said, “I’d definitely recommend this course as a way of getting into work. If you are determined to get into a career, this is a great start. It gave me the incentive to do something and work towards getting a career rather than just a job.”
If you have been out of work for six months or more or are aged between 18 and 24 and on Jobseekers allowance, contact Bury College on 0161 280 8280 or email lynne.woods@burycollege.ac.uk for more information about how we can help.
