Jobs News

Wokingham Jobs Fair a huge success

By Alice Murphy
November 11, 2009

The town’s first ever open Jobs Fair was a huge success, with around 800 people heading to Shute End to discover more about career opportunities.

The fair on Friday at Wokingham Borough Council’s offices saw big-name employers flock to the town to offer advice to jobseekers.

Representatives from the armed forces, Microsoft, Best Western Hotels, Support Horizons, National Grid, Balfour Beatty, Holiday Inn and the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service were trying to attract potential employees.

In addition, there were CV clinics, workshops for young people trying to get their first jobs and information on volunteering and about employment for disabled people.

Andrew Nicholls, the council’s economic development officer, said: “Wokingham had never really held anything like this before.

“We have had good feedback from exhibitors and people who attended.

“Overall we were quite pleased, it seemed to be well attended and the people who came seemed to have got something out of it.”

He said one change to be made before future fairs would be to have a more streamlined event to separate different groups such as career changers, young jobseekers, people who had been made redundant and people with disabilities.

He said: “We are keen to contact the exhibitors in a few months’ time to understand how many people got jobs from this.”

He said companies that were genuinely recruiting and had vacancies were approached, which included businesses in the hospitality and care sectors, which are both short of staff.

Workshops for people interested in setting up their own businesses were also held.

“The event was very broad.

“We wanted to be inclusive to reach all the different sectors and age groups,” said Mr Nicholls.

“One of the bits of feedback was that the venue would be better if it was bigger and should we do something again we would do it somewhere else.”

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There were workshops about getting employment for people who are disabled, but were there any actual jobs offered? In this tough economy, it is becoming increasingly hard for those people with disabilities to obtain employment. I know from personal experience. I can only work from home, which makes it even harder for me. However, I am so glad that there are companies that hire specifically people with disabilities. One of these companies is called J.Lodge. They are always hiring the disabled, especially right now! All you have to do is to go to www.jlodge.com/careers. I hope this can help someone out there!

Melanie R