Industry giants sign up to city jobs fair

10 September 2018

Jobseekers will have access to hundreds of vacancies at the Progress Through Positive Partnerships jobs fair later this month.

A wide range of sectors are taking part in this year’s event, including retail, hospitality, oil and gas, care, local government, security, engineering, and sport. Exhibitors include high profile organisations such as Halliburton, John Lewis, Premier Inn, Petrofac, Aldi, First, Marks and Spencer, and Fugro.

The Aberdeen City Council-led Progress Through Positive Partnerships employability project has joined forces with the Department for Work and Pensions to deliver the event, which will take place on 26 September. Full-time, part-time, permanent and temporary jobs will be on offer.

There will be at least 400 posts on offer across the spectrum, including care, accounting, engineering, retail, food processing, and driving jobs. Representatives of the hiring organisations will be on hand to speak to prospective applicants about the roles of offer.

Co-leader of Aberdeen City Council Councillor Douglas Lumsden, said: “Our Regional Economic Strategy clearly recognises that a prosperous future for Aberdeen is reliant on giving citizens the best opportunity to fulfil their potential and improve their lives, while developing the skills base to power the various industries which are both prevalent and growing in our city.

“The range and size of businesses represented at this jobs fair, and the volume of jobs on offer across key sectors paints an optimistic picture reflecting the scale of opportunity and demand available in Aberdeen.

“I am particularly heartened to see major energy businesses like Halliburton, Petrofac and Fugro taking stands to recruit at this event. This is evidence of the growing optimism we are seeing about the North Sea, while the participation of significant players in other sectors show confidence in the city and opportunities for work and development.

“Progress Through Positive Partnerships is one strand of several pieces of work being carried out to invest in people and training to develop and strengthen the city’s workforce, create more jobs, and contribute to the North-east’s international competitiveness and sustainability.”

The project will see Aberdeen City Council work in partnership with a range of training and development organisations to provide increased employability services and positive outcomes across the city. It will improve the co-ordination of service provision and ensure that those in need of it receive local support tailored specifically to address their individual needs and develop employment and vocational skills.

Department for Work and Pensions partnership manager Kirsty Jarman said: “We’ve seen significant interest from employers for this jobs fair, which follows an extremely successful event last autumn.

“There are hundreds of jobs available across a broad spectrum of industries, at various levels within the hiring organisations offering a wealth of choice to job seekers. These include full-time, part-time, permanent and temporary posts.

“The jobs fair is an ideal occasion for job seekers to find out more about the options available to them, and what the businesses are looking for from applicants, giving them a stronger chance of securing a job. This represents a great opportunity not only for businesses to recruit staff, but also for job hunters to get a foot in the door.

“There will be facilities to complete application forms on the day, and support will be available to those who want it.”

Jobs with organisations which are unable to attend the event will be advertised on a stand.

Space will be available for job seekers to fill out application forms. Visitors to the event, which will run in the Town House from 10am to 3pm are encouraged to bring copies of their CVs.

Progress Through Positive Partnerships keyworkers will also be at the fair and will be seeking to sign up job seekers for the project. Part-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF), the project, forms part of the City Centre Masterplan.

Last year’s event saw eager job hunters queuing round the block while they waited to get into the fair.

Progress Through Positive Partnerships is a £2.2million project, which has secured £880,000 from the European Social Fund. Participants will benefit from a wide range of training options in areas including engineering skills, welding, care, computing skills, one to one support, CV building, job seeking skills, interview skills, literacy, numeracy and language support, media skills, cookery and outdoor pursuits.

For further information about Progress Through Positive Partnerships or to register for support visit www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/esfgetstarted or email esfgetstarted@aberdeencity.gov.uk.