Roadshow a life-changing experience

Hundreds of jobless people surged into the Ask Restaurant and Assembly Rooms, in Blake Street, when the second half of a day-long conference was given over to an "opportunities roadshow" for employers to display vacancies and agencies to give advice on CV preparation and interviewee techniques.

More than 160 organisations, including about 150 employers, attended the conference, which was part of a campaign in York and North Yorkshire for skills, and against ageism.

Nigel Pendleton, the workforce development manager for York and North Yorkshire Jobcentre Plus, which organised the event with the Learning and Skills Council, said: "We have since been inundated with phone calls from employers and people who found work on the day.

"They just felt they wanted to say thank you for a day that made such a difference to them. It really was a case of marrying skills, whatever the age, to needed jobs.

"We are still collating the exact number of successes, but we believe it may have been more than 50."

The event is regarded by officials in the Cabinet Office, the Department of Work and Pensions, the DTI and the Learning and Skills Council, as a breakthrough by York, when it comes to tackling the need for age diversity in the workplace.

The Cabinet Office has asked Mr Pendleton for his evaluation of the day as a prelude to forming a template it can roll out to the rest of the nation.

The event builds on the success of a similar get-together in March attended by 160 employers and organisations, including CPP Card Protection Plan, Marks & Spencer, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Pocklington Coachworks, of Osbaldwick, GNER and City of York Council.

All were determined to do something about North Yorkshire's skills shortages which are double the national average in spite of the region's recruitment pool having 50 per cent more job seekers aged over 45 than anywhere else.

Updated: 08:50 Tuesday, October 22, 2002