Two youngsters offered jobs at Job Match event - and another 100 could follow

Thursday 24 September 2015

Young people who have been out of work all year were invited to a huge meeting with potential employers yesterday – and two were snapped up on the spot.

The JobsFest Job Match saw 45 employers looking for new staff set up at the Radisson Blu Hotel to meet potential new staff.

And Social Security Minister Susie Pinel says that she hopes as many as 100 jobs could be offered after the event, which she said had gone really well.

“We had 45 employers attending from across the board,” she said.

“Sometimes we only hear about employers from retail and hospitality in this context, but there were employers from those sectors, construction, cleaning and health and beauty.

“There were 133 jobseekers, and two job offers on the spot. Now the Back to Work team are following up with employers, some of whom have offered interviews for later this week.”

At the last count, there were 1,400 people registered as unemployed in Jersey – the lowest figure for some time. Of those, 320 were under 25, and 190 had been out of work for more than a year.

Deputy Pinel said: “The hope is that we should have possibly over 100 jobs on offer, which would be amazing.

“When we did this event in 2014, 80 people got jobs.

“So we know that it works. This is the third year, and it has worked over the previous two years. We are hoping that it will be the same this year because we have got people who want to work and employers who need people. This is about finding the right person for the right employer.

“The jobseekers were mainly young people who have been unemployed throughout 2015.”