On Wednesday this week, Tameside Council held their annual Autumn Jobs Fair at Dukinfield Town Hall. We headed down there to see what was available to the community.

It has been another successful event for Tameside Council after a jam-packed free jobs fair that offered a huge array of opportunities and support to people of any age and gender from the local community. Opening from 10am until 1pm, the event saw hundreds of potential employees walk through the door towards their future.  

Speaking to Aaron Middlehurst, the project manager for the jobs fair, he told us “we have got around 40 employers here and 20 providers as well and we are expecting around 300 – 700 people to attend depending on the weather.” 

The hundreds of people that attended the day were greeted with everything that could meet their needs, and employment at every level was available to attendees young and old. 

Aaron emphasized this, telling us “the general aim is to keep it open and appeal to any age, from leaving school to nearing retirement. It is open to anyone so we are hoping the Tameside residents can come and see what jobs are available.”  

Speaking further on the jobs on offer Aaron said “we have a really good variety here today including Co-op Live who are hiring 2,000 people for the new arena.” 

Co – Op Live is the new 20,000 capacity live events arena located in East Manchester that will be opening their doors next April. A representative spoke on their behalf, saying “the roles we are recruiting for are from stewarding, security, hospitality, chefs, there really is something for everybody. It is super exciting, and we are offering local employment to local people so it will be great for Manchester.” 

Jobs in other sectors were also big at the event, and Robertson Construction were present offering a range of construction-based roles for people of all backgrounds. We spoke to Finley Turner, an assistant quantity surveyor for Robertson Construction, to find out more about what his role was and what people could expect from them. “Currently I and my team are over in Mottram at the building a 20-million-pound school and regenerating the area, turning it into an asset for the community.” The team were looking to hire many people to work in similar sectors for levelling up the area.  

The event also offered a lot of support to people that might be looking for help in applying or other skills. Upstairs at the town hall was a whole room dedicated to support, with around 20 groups aiming to give help to people of any age.  

Age UK were representing the over 50s, and Employability Coach Jennifer Simpson told us that they run a “4 week programme for over 50s where we go through CVs application cover letters and interview prep. After the 4 week programme you can come to IT sessions to help with job related things.”  

Help was also available for young people thanks to Joanna Whitehead, who manages the careers service for Tameside Positive Steps, and Lynette Grindley with the Growth Company. 

 Both groups aim to help younger generations in and out of school to boost their employability skills and get them working. Joanna of Positive Steps told us “we work with young people in schools and after schools to help them get fixed up with jobs, apprenticeships, courses, training, we help with CVs, application forms, interview techniques.” 

The Growth Company were there promoting their skills bootcamp, which Lynette told us “help those looking for employment or to improve skills in their current role. The courses are up to 16 weeks with a guaranteed job at the end of it, and currently we have lots of vacancies available on our website.” 

Support was available to minority communities as well, who may find it harder to get into certain roles. Hasina Khanom of Diversity Matters North West explained what they offer for people. “we offer culturally sensitive services and activities for South Asian people, and have just launched a new project with Mind in Tameside providing a counselling service with language support for speakers of South Asian languages.” 

No matter what level of experience you might have had, or any other mitigating factor, the Tameside Jobs Fair was able to offer support and opportunity to everyone that attended.