Northumberland County Council - Employment, skills and recruitment options

Employment, skills and recruitment options

Find out which employment, skills and recruitment opportunities may be available to support your business through the pandemic.

Northumberland County Council offers a number of employment and skills programmes, in partnership with our funders and delivery partners, to help our residents raise their skills and move into work. This may be for those who are moving into work for the first time, need to change jobs, want to improve their skills, or are returning to the labour market. All support is tailored to individual needs.

By using a variety of delivery partners in the voluntary/community, public and private sectors, programmes can offer support to meet a wide range of needs. This includes helping you to gain the skills and experience that employers are looking for. Northumberland County Council also works with local businesses and organisations to match residents with vacancies, and the kind of work experience to help a move into work.

The govenment are now offering The Skills Toolkit which has some free courses to help you learn new skills or get a new job. To learn more about this skills toolkit click here.

The drop-down boxes below give further information on each programme, but if you would like to know more about them you can call us on 07816 109663 or email us at employabilityandinclusion@northumberland.gov.uk

Employability skills training

One of the things people feel most acutely when out of work is isolation. It’s easy to feel that you’re facing this all alone.

We are here to help you to enhance your chances of getting a job and give you support to prepare your CV and show you how to create compelling cover letters and stand out from other applicants.

We can also help to boost your confidence as you get ready for interviews. We run budget sessions to help you cope on benefits until you are able to get back into work. Our experts are always at hand to help you make the most of opportunities as they come along.

If you would like to register your interest in a course, please do contact Rianne Gallon on 01670 626107 and you will be contacted as soon as we are able to offer you face to face support.

We hope to resume our service as soon as we can. We are continuing to closely monitor developments in relation to COVID-19 and we’re following guidance from Public Health England, the UK Government and the World Health Organisation.

Employability Courses

Getting a job takes as much skill as doing the job itself. Employers look for certain things in potential employees. They want people who are clear about what they can offer, who are confident, who present themselves well, and who understand what their potential employer wants.

Few people are naturally good at these things. We have to learn these skills. The good news is that we can teach you how to get a job, and how to get yourself ready for employment.

We run lots of short, intensive courses, including:

Boost your Interview Skills.
Boost your Wellbeing.
Digital Skills Booster.

We also run longer courses, including:

"Get Into" courses:
- helping you to find work in retail, childcare, team-leading, and management.
Digital Employability courses:
- helping you to improve your IT skills (you can even add on an IT qualification if this interests you).

Contact Rianne Gallon on 01670 626107 for more information.

Careers Guidance Team

Our fully qualified Careers Advisers work in the community to support young people aged 16-18 who are not in education, employment or training, to find the opportunities they are looking for:

apprenticeships
college & training providers courses
personal development opportunities.

We offer impartial information, advice and guidance, and during this time we can provide telephone/email information and/or advice.

Please contact us via email on careersteam@northumberland.gov.uk, or text or call the team on 07827 244027.

Visit the Careers Guidance Team webpage here.

Twitter: @NlandGuidance

Northumberland Employer Skills Survey

Helping Northumberland businesses access the workforce and skills they need as our economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic is a high priority for the council.

We have launched a survey to gather information and views from employers, so that we can best support them. This information will be invaluable in supporting our ongoing work in developing skills and employment systems for Northumberland.

Please click on the link below to take part in the survey. There are only 15 questions and it should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. The survey is open from 17 May to 21 June 2021.

Click here to complete the survey.

North of Tyne Working Homes

North of Tyne Working Homes is a partnership led by Northumberland County Council to support mainly council and social housing tenants living in Northumberland, North Tyneside and Newcastle areas into and towards work through intensive one-to-one support.

North of Tyne Working Homes is part funded by the European Social Fund as part of the England 2014 to 2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme

Northumberland County Council acts as Lead Accountable Body for North of Tyne Working Homes on behalf of the North of Tyne Combined Authority and is managed by the Economy and Regeneration Service Employability and Inclusion Team.

Click here for further information

Building Better Opportunities: Bridge Northumberland

Bridge Northumberland is a voluntary programme to help people living in Northumberland who are out of work and aged 16+ to overcome barriers to training, education and work. Bridge Northumberland is a partnership bringing together 6 voluntary and community sector organisations and is led by Northumberland County Council.

Bridge Northumberland is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and The European Social Fund.

Through this funding we are able to provide Northumberland Residents between 16 and retirement with support from a dedicated Bridge worker to help get back into work, training or make positive changes to their lives by offering:

Employment and skills advice and guidance
Supported volunteering
Mentoring
Financial and debt management
Digital skills support
Building emotional resilience and wellbeing

Further information about Bridge Northumberland can be found here: Building Better Opportunities: Bridge Northumberland

Northumberland County Council is working with the North of Tyne Combined Authority to create job placements for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit.

What is the Kickstart Scheme?

The Kickstart Scheme provides local employers the opportunity to offer young people a 6-month job placement in their business, funded by the Government.

In offering these placements, your organisation can support young people to develop work ready skills for your sector, while also expanding your staff and supporting your business through Covid-19 challenges.

Each placement is fully funded for 25 hours work per week for 6 months
Employers can spread the start date of the job placements up until the end of December 2021
As an employer, you will receive funding to cover 100% of the National Minimum Wage (or the National Living Wage depending on the age of the participant).
As an employer, you will receive funding to cover National Insurance contributions and automatic enrolment contributions.

Information for businesses

If you’re an employer and would like to get involved, please pre-register your placement opportunities:

Click here to register your interest by filling in our online form.

Please note: This opportunity is provided by the North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA) and supported by Northumberland County Council. Any expressions of interest will be forwarded to NTCA. The council can support businesses in the application process.

Further information about the scheme

The North of Tyne Combined Authority have more information about the scheme on their website - click here to learn more.
Click here to read more about the Kickstart Scheme on gov.uk
Click here to view the Kickstart guide for employers

Current Kickstart vacancies for young people

If you're young person aged 16 -24 and currently claiming Universal Credit, speak to your Job Centre work coach to express interest in Kickstart vacancies. The latest vacancies available in Northumberland are listed below.

Please note: You cannot apply for a Kickstart placement directly - you must be referred to these opportunities by your work coach.

Business Support Associate, M4C Consulting Coaching & Training
Bartender, Willcox Henderson Leisure Ltd (referrals deadline is 31 December 2021)
Housekeeper, Willcox Henderson Leisure Ltd (referrals deadline is 15 December 2021)
Kitchen Porter, Willcox Henderson Leisure Ltd (referrals deadline is 15 December 2021)
Partnerships Assistant, Northumberland County Council (Visit Northumberland)
Tourism Research Assistant, Northumberland County Council (Visit Northumberland)
Content & Social Media Assistant, Northumberland Tourism
Digital Marketing Assistant, Northumberland Tourism

The Northumberland Covid Business Response (NCBRP) programme has been designed to help businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic to recover and restart.

It is funded by the North of Tyne Combined Authority’s Covid-19 Capacity Fund and delivered by Advance Northumberland on behalf of the County Council and the Northumberland Business Hub.

There are two strands to the programme:

Business Advantage

This provides access to 12 hours of 1-2-1 coaching or consultancy for businesses looking to explore new methods of business delivery, increase productivity or become more resilient. It is open to large businesses and SMEs across the county.

Digital Advantage

This support will enable SMEs from across the county to introduce digital tools into their day to day business activity. These tools include e-commerce websites and proactive digital marketing campaigns to expand and reach new customers. Businesses in the hospitality sector could have the chance to create bespoke apps fully funded for their business.

Contact us

For more details and to register your interest go to: www.northumberlandbusinessresponse.co.uk or email business@advancenorthumberland.co.uk

Employers can contact the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) to arrange a meeting to discuss support needs and how the National Careers Service can support the work force with access to Rapid Response training and other areas of training, skills, CVs, job searching, employment opportunities and benefits.

Please click on the links below for more information: