Supporting jobless in the region

As the Office for National Statistics reports a national rise in unemployment, Bedford College is working harder than ever to support the jobless in this region.

The College has recently been recognised for its success in equipping 150 people in this region with the skills to seek jobs. Out of 18 colleges that participated in a government project earlier in the year, Bedford College persuaded the greatest number of unemployed men and women at Job Centres in Bedford and Biggleswade to sign up and succeed in a training programme.

The individuals were given training to help them seek jobs in care, catering, construction, customer service and security.  To make them even more attractive to employers, and more confident as applicants, the 'students' were also given life skills, team work and first aider training by the College’s award-winning Student Services team.

“It was a great initiative to take people who were unemployed and to coach and train them towards presenting themselves better,” explained Director of Enterprise at Bedford College, Sharon Chinneck.

“Earlier in the financial year the government offered £600,000 for this programme, providing that the right criteria were met. Thanks to the depth and breadth of experience that we have at Bedford College, we were able to bring some of this money to potential employees in the area.”

What’s more, if your organisation is in the unfortunate position of having to make job cuts, then Bedford College can provide redundancy support services to better prepare those being made redundant for the job market. 

Providing career and training advice, we can run sessions that include developing employability skills such as CV writing and interview techniques and we also have courses for those who may decide to return to study, including providing training in key skills areas such as IT. 

Bedford College has developed a number of fast-track courses in key areas to enable individuals to re-skill in just six to 12 weeks.  We currently cover the following sectors:  care; catering; construction; customer service; security and telesales.

To find out more about how we can help your organisation, please call 01234 291747.

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