27 October 2011

New Recruits Make a Clean Sweep

An innovative partnership between Churchill and local employment services company, Ingeus, has led to three people from the North East returning to work– and there’s hope that more will follow in their footsteps.

John Hunter, Davy Wilkinson and Lee Walton have just joined a team of around 90 cleaning professionals from Churchill who work at the city’s Metro stations, maintaining high standards for thousands of passengers each day.

Churchill’s determination to employ local people on their recently-won cleaning contract led to the partnership with Ingeus, which operates the government’s Work Programme in the region. This flagship programme is aimed at people who have been unemployed for more than a year, and supports them with a range of job-seeking services including writing an effective CV, learning how to get the most from interviews and searching for suitable jobs.

John, who’s 50 and from Lynemouth, spent 25 years managing farms before having to resign four years ago to care for his late wife, who was then terminally ill.

“After such a long time out of work, the prospect of job searching and going for interviews was quite scary,” he said. “However, with the close support of Ingeus, I was able to overcome my nerves and break the cycle of rejection letters.”

“Ingeus provides a really valuable service in helping us fill our vacancies with motivated candidates who are ready to work,” said Louisa Clarke, Metro Churchill Contract Manager. “Our contract to clean Metro stations means we are constantly looking for people with the right attitude and transferrable skills. John, Davy and Lee are excellent examples of how, working together, we can find people who really want to work.”

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