Rural employment hubs bring back job support service in Alnwick, Amble and Morpeth

Run by Community Action Northumberland (CAN), the employment hubs support unemployed residents in rural areas to overcome the barriers they face when looking to move into employment.

The project was set up to meet the needs of people in rural areas who face extra difficulties when searching for work, including fewer local employment, volunteering and training opportunities, higher travel costs both to sign on and to attend interviews, and poor internet connections, making online job searches more difficult.

The hubs offer free access to the internet to carry out job search activities, careers advice, cv writing, and one-to-one support with IT skills, as well as help addressing underlying health and social welfare issues that may limit people’s ability to seek work.

“I’ve been coming to the CAN job club for 17 months,” said Karl, who got a permanent job at school thanks to job club support. “It is a very professional service, really brilliant, as it has directed me to the right leads.

"As a new immigrant I have found it very difficult to get a job at managerial level. The coaches have been very helpful and helped me research in the right areas according to my experience. I have found the whole service very inspiring, mainly due to the work coaches.

“I looked forward to Fridays when I could discuss ideas with the coaches, who steered me in the right direction. They helped me follow up leads properly providing lots of encouragement and support including applying to local schools on spec.

“After I had been on a Friday, I would feel inspired to carry on looking and it gave me the confidence to cold call some agencies which led to success.

“After doing three months as an office admin in a school, I have been offered a permanent position as an attendance assistant doing lots of roles such as data capturing, writing reports. I feel very happy now having that sense of security, I can sleep at night now.”

The funding has come from North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA) through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund as part of their support to a wider employability programme called Solid Foundations. The programme provides one-to-one support to help economically inactive people in Northumberland overcome barriers to work, such as lack of basic skills or health problems.

Julia Plinston, community development officer at CAN said: “It’s great to have secured the funding to continue our much-valued rural employment hubs service.

"Our beneficiaries tell us how important our support is both in enabling them to find volunteering, training and employment opportunities, and in supporting them through the hard times they face whilst unemployed.

"The hubs have been well used ever since the first one opened in 2015, but when our last funding stream ended in March the future looked uncertain. Now we can look forward to welcoming many more people through our doors.”

To find out more about employment hubs, contact Julia Plinston at CAN on [email protected] or phone 01670 517178 or visithttp://ca-north.org.uk/supporting-individuals/northumberland-rural-employment-hubs

Employment Hubs

Alnwick: Every Friday from 9.30am-2.30pm, Gallery Youth Project.

Amble: Every Thursday, 9.30am-2.30pm, Amble Drop-In Centre, Dilston Terrace.

Morpeth: Every Wednesday, 9.30am-2.30pm, County Blind Association, Reiver House Staithes Lane.