New i54 employer set to bring 500 jobs to region
Efforts are being stepped up across the Black Country to provide fresh employment with one new employer set to bring more than 500 jobs to Wolverhampton.
JobCentre Plus said the employer, whose name has not been disclosed, is currently building on the i54 Western Extension and will be moving into the area bringing the jobs which will need to be filled for the site to open in 2023.
There has been a fund of £150,000 earmarked for the training of local residents for these vacancies.
In total the i54 Western Extension could bring 1,700 jobs in total for local people.
Sam Jackson, who is new recruitment leader for JobCentre Plus in the Black Country, said that the greatest need was to find jobs for the 18 to 24-year-old age group which has seen the biggest increase in unemployment in the area in the last 12 months during the coronavirus pandemic.
She said that tech academies were being set up locally to help the UK tech industry by training jobseekers to fill thousands of new roles that are expected to be created.
In Wolverhampton a new recruitment agency, Next Life Recruitment Agency which will focus on supporting ex-offenders will be launching in April.
It will work with Jobcentre Plus to support our customers with criminal convictions. They will be delivering presentation to work coaches across the patch on the support they can offer.
The store manager at Next in the Merry Hill shopping centre has approached local Jobcentres for help with recruitment.
It is looking to fill 31 seasonal roles - for managers, stock co-ordinators, shelf stockers and administration workers. Interviews will start mid-April.
B & M at Merry Hill has started recruiting this month and has so fat taken 25 people into new sales assistant and stock control roles as it expects greater footfall in their store from the spring onwards.
Midland Metro Alliance is also recruiting tramway construction operatives for the Metro extensions in the Black Country including through Dudley town centre to Brierley Hill.
It is also recruiting a number of apprentices and Dudley College will offer sector-based work academy programme training leading to delivery of the Level 2 apprenticeship which will start in August.
Severn Trent Water is recruiting apprentices for assistant network water technician roles and asked Jobcentre Plus to help. So far four female candidates have completed training with Dudley College in support of their applications
