Everton in the Community has marked the success of its fortnightly Jobs Fair after a local resident was successfully recruited by Laing O’Rourke to work on the Everton Stadium build at Bramley-Moore Dock.
EitC, the official charity of Everton Football Club, tackles social issues which are prevalent across Merseyside including mental health, homelessness, poverty and employability.
As part of its work in boosting employment across Liverpool City Region, the charity hosts a Job Centre Plus ‘Jobs Fair’ at its Blue Base Pantry every fortnight, with staff from the Employability Support programme, ‘Working Well’ on hand to assist.
Tim Rice-Reddin, who lives close to Goodison Park, attended recently, where the Employability Team helped him create a CV that was passed onto Laing O’Rourke and earned Tim a contract with the international engineering and construction company.
Tim now works as a general operative at Everton’s new stadium and has since proved to be an integral part of the team, playing a key role in keeping the site safe, as well as managing some of the logistics of the project.
Tim said:
“I’d been looking for a job for a while after being made redundant during the pandemic. My bills were slowly piling up and I was borrowing money which was getting me down. I saw a flyer about Everton in the Community’s job fair at The Blue Base, so I went along to find out more. The staff were approachable and friendly and helped me create a CV which they then passed onto Laing O’Rourke who got in touch with me a few days later to meet with me.”
“I’ve been working on site at Bramley-Moore Dock now for five weeks and it’s great – I’m working with lots of fellow scousers and there’s a great atmosphere and camaraderie on site. We all work as a team and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve got lots of relevant experience of working on building sites in previous jobs which has served me well for this new role.”
“I’m not actually a football fan – working on Bramley-Moore Dock is my first ever time in a football ground but it’s fantastic to say that I’ve played a part in contributing to such a big part of Everton’s future.”
“The team at Everton in the Community were fantastic and really went out of their way to help me. I was getting really frustrated with the struggle of finding a job – I didn’t know where to start looking. I’m not IT literate but the staff helped me with my CV and made it a really simple process.”
“I’d recommend the jobs fair to anyone who is looking for a job or is after employment advice such as CV writing or interview techniques. I’ve already told my friends about it and one of them has already registered.”
The Jobs Fair service is free to access for all community pantry members and ‘Working Well’ programme participants, where they can speak to a wide range of employers about live vacancies and the charity’s ‘Working Well’ staff are on hand to help with applications and employment-related queries. Made possible thanks to grants from Football For Change and law firm Weightmans, who have recently provided additional funds to ‘Working Well’ – Everton in the Community continues to increase its employability support available.
Maxine Roberts, Employment and Enterprise Manager at EiTC commented:
“We’re delighted to have been able to help Tim secure employment with Laing O’Rourke. It is vital that those seeking employment get the right advice and training, and the Employability Team work hard to ensure that residents and programme participants have access to job opportunities and support across a variety of sectors.”
The £500m stadium development at Bramley-Moore Dock has boosted Liverpool City Region’s social value by creating almost 150 new jobs, with Laing O’Rourke having recruited nearly three quarters of their workforce from across Merseyside. The Social Value Advisors at the construction firm made it their mission to ensure the development team recruited locally, and they also donated and volunteered at Everton in the Community’s Blue Base Pantry to show their support to the charity.
Abigail Green, Social Value Advisor at Laing O’Rourke added:
“Tim has been working really well with our Logistics Team and brings a lot of experience with him. It’s a brilliant outcome that he’s now working us at the stadium development after he was referred by Everton in the Community’s Employability Team. We hope that there will be more success stories like Tim’s in the coming weeks as we collaborate with Everton in the Community on more initiatives.”
For more information on the charity’s employability arm visit website here.
