European Social Fund in England

A recipe for success

James Meers is celebrating after becoming the 500th person to find employment through an ESF project delivered by the At Work branch based in Newcastle. With the team's help he has landed a job as a chef at Whorlton Grange Care Home, Westerhope, in the North East.

At Work is a recruitment agency funded by ESF (Objective 2 Programme) and Newcastle New Deal for Communities. It opened its doors in the West end of Newcastle in 2003. This initiative is one of the 80 community projects supported by European funding in Newcastle.

James said, "I often walk past the At Work office so I decided to pop in and register - and I'm glad I did. Just six weeks later, I was putting on my chef's whites for my first shift!

"I only had to wait a few days before At Work were lining up interviews for me. They also helped with things like interview practice and application forms."

The agency helps people from all walks of life across Newcastle city to find work including the long-term unemployed, people from black and minority ethnic communities, students and people receiving incapacity benefit.

Once they step through the door each individuals' needs and skills are assessed and they are registered free of charge on the At Work computer database.

Once this is complete, they are allocated a Candidate Consultant, who is their one point of contact and support and provides advice, guidance, action planning and job matching. Candidate Consultants work with Account Managers who provide a free recruitment service for employers. This allows At Work to offer permanent, sustainable employment for candidates and motivated and suitable staff to employers.

The agency also provides a unique mentoring service which supports all successful beneficiaries up to 26 weeks into work. This includes phone calls before and after their first day in their new job, ongoing telephone contact and support and beneficiaries can access a freephone helpline if they need extra help.

"It's easy to register with us," said At Work's Victoria Powell. "Once we've done a few basic checks, we get to work on matching skills to the hundreds of jobs on our database. We're really pleased that we've helped so many people into work since we opened our doors. But we're not taking a break; we're already looking for jobs for the next 500!"

Want to know more?

Contact: Newcastle City Council on 0191 211 56 93,

Newcastle New Deal for Communities on 0191 277 2888 or

At Work on 01912434343