A celebration event on Friday (Feb 2) will mark the success of a skills training academy for Dundee unemployed people.
The Discover Work Partnership has recently staged a 3-week employer led sector-based academy to support ongoing recruitment for EE/BT.
People who took part were taken through a range of training in collaboration with the employer. This included visits to a call centre and also covered customer service and employability skills.
They are guaranteed interviews following completion of the course.
Clients will be presented with certificates from City Council Fair Work, Economic Growth and Infrastructure depute convener Councillor Siobhan Tolland at Friday’s event.
She said: “I would like to thank BT and EE for supporting this excellent academy which has given unemployed people a chance to learn new skills and improve their chances of gaining employment.
“The city council and its partners want to see the city become a better place for everyone.
“This initiative shows how we are determined to make a real difference to people’s lives by providing the right support to get them into employment.”
The city council has reshaped its Adult Employability Service to meet new challenges in the jobs market.
Now based at the Shore in the city centre, the service provides targeted support for those who are long term unemployed, older workers, those living in the most employment deprived areas of Dundee as well as those from other protected groups.
The service has also recently become an SQA accredited delivery centre, which allows people to gain qualifications to assist in their search for employment.
Also, for both employers and unemployed people, the service runs Sector Based Academies and Academies for Individual Businesses like the BT/EE initiative.
These deliver training courses developed with employers for positions like machine operators and bus drivers, as well as for sectors such as hospitality and care, with guaranteed interviews upon successful completion.
Dundee City Council
Dundee draws skilled workers from a 60-minute catchment population of 640,000 and has a local population of over 140,000. The availability of a large pool of highly skilled labour is a key feature in the Dundee economy. Flexibility in the labour force is currently more prevalent in Dundee than in Scotland as a whole. All forms of labour market flexibility - part-time, temporary employment, self-employment and shift work - are widely operational within the city. Labour force stability in the city is excellent, enabling companies to plan with confidence. Labour turnover levels are less than 5% and absenteeism averages 2%.
