A local free skills training programme based in Castlebar has been celebrating success in recent weeks as more and more participants have secured employment and further training and education through the initiative.
One such man is 22 year-old Alex Reddington of Ballina, who had been unemployed for more than six months having worked in the construction sector before he enrolled with JobFit in September – a programme delivered by TBG Learning, in partnership with National Learning Network, both Rehab Group companies.
Mr Reddington is full of praise for the help he received at JobFit and identifies the mock interviews and CV preparation workshops as being particularly useful.
“After completing an interview, I secured a two-week work placement in November with Vodafone through JobFit. I’m now proud to say I am working there full-time as a sales assistant and loving it, it’s my ideal job.”
JobFit centre manager, Martina Davey said: “It’s great to be able to help people get back into employment and to see participants like Alex achieve success. The work placement is very useful for participants and employers as participants gain an insight into the challenges and rewards of working in a particular area, while employers can see the potential of a prospective employee first-hand. As we’ve seen with Alex and Vodafone, here we have a match that’s worked out really well.”
The JobFit programme, which is free and which can last up to 13 weeks, leads to nationally recognised qualifications. The chief aim of JobFit is to help those who have been let go from their jobs, or who have left the education system early, to upskill or retrain and get a job or move on to further education or training, through skills training, job search support, and work placements with local employers. It is open to those who have been in receipt of a social welfare payment for three months or more and who are qualified to Junior Certificate or below.
JobFit is funded through the Labour Market Activation Fund of the Department of Education and Skills and is co-funded by the European Social Fund of the European Union.
Anyone interested in learning more about the JobFit programme should contact the Castlebar centre now by email at [email protected] on Freefone 1800 303 365 or by logging on to www.jobfit.ie
