Young job seekers leave Portsmouth Kickstart event ‘beaming’ as employers recruit a ‘fantastic’ number of new employees through work scheme

Portsmouth Job Centre hosted a Kickstart fair on Wednesday, bringing together job seekers and employers to help youngsters find job placements.

The Kickstart Scheme provides funding to employers to create jobs for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit.

Angie Napolitano, a manager at the job centre, said: ‘It was an amazing success, we had just under 200 customers aged 18 to 24 come in.

‘In the end, there were about 30 customers that were going to start work immediately in admin, sales, a whole variety of things. The majority of them are living on Portsea island.

‘There was a real buzz in the room with job centre staff and employers acting as one team.

‘It just shows that there are many young people out there that want to work, and to get this many people job offers in one day is fantastic.’

Around 23 organisations, charities, and businesses took part in the event, including Your Centre, Portsmouth City Council, and Spinnaker Associates.

James Stone, owner of the Bangerz ‘n’ Burgerz restaurants, has helped several young people into work thanks to the scheme.

He said: ‘We’re trying to encourage everybody to do it - I’ve seen success from all sides with the scheme.’

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Portsmouth-based businesses are being encouraged to take advantage of the scheme, creating jobs and boosting employment for young people in the area.

Placements are for six months, and give the individual a guaranteed 25 hours of work a week.

An employer could offer more hours and could also retain their staff at the end of the placement.

Angie added: ‘It was so nice to see so many happy people leave with a job offer.

‘We had an office classed as a ‘success room’ and all those starting work within the next 24 hours were given a certificate and posed with it for a photographer - everyone was on a real high, they were absolutely beaming.

‘We’re hoping to run events on a monthly basis. Young people aged 16 to 24 who are on benefits and want to find out more should contact their work coach at the job centre.’

Earlier this year The News backed the 100 in 100 campaign which aimed to recruit 100 apprentices within a 100 days in and around Portsmouth. In the end 265 people were found apprenticeships.

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