Sporting skills to help jobless

UNEMPLOYED people in Fife will soon be able to build their teamwork and communication skills through football coaching to help them get a job.

Jobcentre Plus is teaming up with Raith Rovers FC in association with Careers Scotland and Triage Central to bring Support Employment to Fife and the initiative was launched at the weekend by Glenrothes MP John MacDougall at an event attended by around 90 Fife employers and partnership organisations.

Support Employment is an innovative way of helping people who are further from the labour market to gain suitable, sustainable employment.

Skills such as teamwork, communication and motivation feature in sport and are transferable to the workplace.

The programme is delivered over 10 weeks and a key feature is the participation of local employers, including access to vacancies, work placements and visits.

It has already been delivered very successfully in partnership with a number of Scottish football clubs and, so far, around 70% of disadvantaged people have been helped into jobs or training, leading to jobs.

Key elements of Support Employment—Raith Rovers FC are:

*Football coaching delivered by coaches from Rovers, motivating individuals and building the skills needed for working with people/teams.

*Career planning and employability support from Careers Scotland.

*Personal development coaching.

*Dedicated personal adviser support from Jobcentre Plus.

*Support from Triage Central advisers.

*Careers talks by employers.

Club chairman David Sommerville said, “Raith Rovers is delighted to be involved in Support Employment and to be able to make a real difference to people’s lives in their local community.

“It kicks off at Raith Rovers with an open day on November 14. With the support of employers in Fife, we like to think we can at least match the achievements of the other eight football clubs involved in Support Employment, by helping more people into jobs.”

The launch also gave employers the chance to hear about local employment partnerships, established to engage employers in their community and to show their commitment to working with Jobcentre Plus to help long-term unemployed people back to work.

Earlier this year, Tesco, B&Q, Sainsbury’s, Asda, and Marks & Spencer jointly committed to the scheme and MGt in Kirkcaldy is the first employer in Fife to sign up to such an agreement.

The firm’s director of human resources Moira Brown said, “MGt is very pleased with the help that Jobcentre Plus has given us in our recent recruitment exercise.

“The signing of this agreement marks a great opportunity for an expanding business such as ours to help local people back into the workplace and a great chance to help make a difference in our community.”

Mr MacDougall, who presented an award to MGt and two of their employees who had been recruited from welfare benefits through work trials, said, “Support Employment was developed to break down the barriers which prevent people from getting suitable jobs and holding onto them and I’m delighted to give it my support.

“I congratulate Raith Rovers on becoming involved, this demonstrates the commitment of the club to the wider community and to supporting people into employment.”