Grantham’s unemployed declare: ‘We want a job!’
Employment feature. 704C
As unemployment increases in Grantham at a higher rate than any other part of Lincolnshire our new Journal campaign wants to help people get back to work.
Judith Page, Kirsty Collin, Cris Turnstill, Martyn Ivermee, Josh Bennett, Becky Jones, Sophie Kerr, Michael Brooks and James Mason are all desperately looking for work.
They are receiving job seeking advice and training from A4e but the Journal hopes to highlight their profiles to potential employers so that they can find their ideal jobs and kick-start their careers.
Journal managing editor Paul Richardson said: “We really want to help these jobseekers get back into work and hope that with our new campaign employers will find their perfect future staff.
“It’s what we have always tried to do – put the right people in contact with each other. And in doing so, we hope to get Grantham back into work.
From August 2011 to August 2012 people claiming Job Seekers Allowance in Grantham has increased by nearly 10 per cent and the We Want to Work campaign hopes to break that trend.
Last August 1,255 in the town were claiming the benefit but in August this year that figure rose 9.7 per cent to 1,377. This is the highest rise in the whole of Lincolnshire and Rutland.
But it is not for lack of trying that our nine candidates are our of work. They are all trying hard to impress potential employers, now they just need to be given a chance.
Sally Tebbs, local business leader at A4e Grantham said: “We are delighted that the Grantham Journal has given a group of our customers the chance to shout about their skills to local employers. The campaign demonstrates the importance of regional papers in the local community and their power to make a huge impact on the lives of local residents.
“At A4e, we are working hard to support Grantham job-seekers to find jobs and stay in work and it is clear that by launching this campaign the Journal is also determined to do everything in its power to help those in the community who are struggling with unemployment.”
Cris Turnstill gave up work 10 years ago to look after her children. She started her job hunt 18 months ago but has found it very frustrating.
After her first interview she was told she would have had the job, but the company had decided to stop recruiting.
She said: “It’s very disheartening but we have to keep our head up, keep a smile on our face and keep going,
“I just want to get a foot on the ladder.”
Others of our job seekers feel disadvantaged because of their age, experience or just because the competition for jobs is so high.
Judith Page had not had a job interview since 1976 when she lost her job.
She said: “It was an alien world. I felt like I’d been tossed out on the rubbish heap. A4E have put me courses that they think will benefit me, it has helped.”
Sophie Kerr, who is 19, is willing to work at nearly any job but she often feels her age disadvantages her.
She said: “It annoys me, I want to get a job, I don’t want to be sat at home. I want to get out and do something. Most people seem to think that at my age I would just go out drinking but I don’t, I want a job.”
CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO READ THEIR PROFILES.
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Saturday 18 May 2013
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