Positive steps to find staff

OLDHAM employers are being urged to engage with Positive Steps Oldham in a bid to get people off the jobless register.

An independent sector company providing a range of services, including advice service Connexions, PSO’s mission is to enable young people across Oldham to make a successful transition into adult life and fulfil their potential.

“It’s an integrated approach recognising that young people and adults may face a number of interconnected barriers to attainment. These could include family or relationship issues, health problems or offending behaviour,” says chief executive Tim Mitchell, adding: “Partnership working is central to our approach.”

It is partnerships that he and Jayne Entwistle, the organisation’s director of community advice and guidance, are seeking to build with Oldham’s businesses.

“We have won two significant contracts — part of the Government’s flagship Work Programme — to deliver training of people who have been out of work for more than nine months.

“In the first few months we have seen a surge of referrals and now we need to interact with employers to tell them we have job-ready people.

“Many of these employers no longer use traditional routes to find staff, be these full time, temporary or even short-term contract employees.

“We know there are lots of employers in Oldham who have a regular churn of staff and we believe we can help fill these vancancies, with trained people.” There are no fees or charges for using the service.

Contact Jayne on 0161- 621 9214.