GOOD PRACTICE GUIDE OPENS CANARY WHARF AND CITY JOBS TO ALL - Attitude prevails over academic qualifications -

East London Business Alliance (ELBA), a regeneration agency comprised of major City and Canary Wharf member companies, today launches Jobs Next Door, a good practice guide for job brokerage consultants. The guide was developed in association with the London Development Agency (LDA) and will help personal advisors and consultants within job brokerage organisations be aware of the opportunities within Canary Wharf and the City. It will also equip them with a support handbook, increasing jobseekers’ chances of securing sustainable employment.

Barry Sheerman, MP, Chair Select Committee Education and Skills, said: “Personal skills are key to making progress in employability. However, equally important is harnessing the talents of the trainers and candidate providers to ensure good quality applicants are sent to employers on a consistent and committed basis. Jobs Next Door is a great initiative which not only ensures that London’s employers have access to a work-ready and appropriately skilled workforce, but also enables the unemployed to participate more effectively in the labour market.”

During the development of Jobs Next Door, ELBA consulted the HR departments of 14 large local employers to gain an understanding of their needs and, most importantly, their expectations of organisations providing recruitment services. The research confirmed that employers are willing to recruit from pools of local unemployed people – given they meet their usual recruitment standards.

“Unbelievably there is still a perception amongst some local unemployed people that jobs in the City and Canary Wharf are only for educated individuals; this could not be any further from the truth. There are thousands of exciting and well-paid job opportunities in the area, which require no specific academic qualifications or direct experience,” said Liam Kane, Chief Executive, ELBA.


Tony Winterbottom, Executive Director of Regeneration and Development at the LDA, said: “The Jobs Next Door project will help encourage business growth and economic regeneration in London. By matching the unmet requirements of employers with the skills available in untapped sectors of the workforce, we create a win-win situation that benefits businesses and at the same time helps to address the issue of joblessness in London.”

Jobs Next Door includes detailed information about the types of service sector jobs available in the City and Canary Wharf, step by step guidance on how to assess jobseeker’s suitability, vacancy matching tips and an overview of the business culture of Canary and the City.

In addition, the guide includes five newly developed resources: a work based skills matrix; a jobseeker job readiness checklist; vacancy taker template; a pullout jobseeker advice section – ‘Looking for a job’; and assessment tests.

An event launching the guide will take place Allen & Overy, 40 Bank Street, Canary Wharf, on Thursday 25 May, 2006 from 6.00-8.00pm, at which Sheerman, Kane and Winterbottom will all present.


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Notes to the editor:

A copy of the guide is available on request.

About East London Business Alliance

With 16 years of experience in bringing business skills and private sector volunteers to the East End, ELBA is a leading economic and social regeneration agency within the area. With 32 staff currently and almost 4,500 volunteers in 2005, ELBA’s 102 City and Canary Wharf companies are helping to make a difference in East London.



ELBA brings time, skills, influence and resources from the private sector to help build the capacity of local organisations and regeneration programmes, primarily in Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Newham and now in the Thames Gateway north of the river. ELBA works in partnership with key stake-holders in each borough to identify needs and issues ranging from employment and health to social enterprise support and ensures the private sector brings its human and other resources to bear.



For more information please visit www.elba-1.org.uk



About London Development Agency

The London Development Agency is the Mayor's agency for business and jobs. The LDA prepares the Mayor's business plan for London and mobilises the support and resources of hundreds of partner organisations to help build a thriving economy for London's people, businesses and communities. The LDA is dedicated to improving sustainability, health and equality of opportunity for Londoners.

In December 2003, the London Development Agency, as part of their drive to reduce unemployment, commissioned Tank to research the efficacy of the provision of publicly funded job brokerage services in the City Fringe. This piece of research provided the basis for ‘Just the Job’, a generic good practice guide for organisations involved in job brokerage services. This latest guide updates Just the Job and adds a few new insights.



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