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TV presenter Kate Garraway enjoys a massage from therapist Steve Le Fevre |
Hampstead and Highgate MP Glenda Jackson with Leaann Baker (left) and Ross Godfrey of the London Ambulance Service |
Career best for booming fair
TV presenter hails New Journal event that attracts thousands of job seekers
More than 3,000 people flocked to the New Journal’s careers fair on Saturday – making it the most successful ever – looking to change their lives.
TV presenter Kate Garraway helped kick off proceedings at the Royal National Hotel, in Bloomsbury, which saw 47 employers and colleges offer careers ranging from childcare and teaching to engineering and the construction industry.
The fire brigade, ambulance service, Arsenal Football Club and Middlesex University were among organisations represented. Standholders worked flat out to answer queries from queues of keen job hunters.
Ms Garraway, who visited with husband Derek Draper, the former Labour PR man-turned-psychotherapist, said: “It can be very hard to find a job, especially a first job, so people coming here to speak to stallholders and find opportunities is brilliant.
“It’s great that a newspaper has organised something like this, to put something back into the community.”
London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service were flooded by hundreds of inquiries. Jo Barter, of CITE, which co-ordinated their stands, said: “It was a great success. We were totally inundated. We took the details of hundreds of interested people, and those were more than just a quick chat.
“The Ambulance Service thought they might have been going overboard by bringing along eight staff, but it turned out that wasn’t enough!”
She added: “We were not only pleased with the numbers, but with the high calibre of interested people.”
The Mayors of Camden and Islington joined Illtyd Harrington, former deputy leader of the Greater London Council and New Journal literary editor, to open the fair.
Islington Mayor Jyoti Vaja said: “Employment brings good economic prospects for any borough. Given how nice the day is I’m really pleased to see the really good turnout.”
Hampstead and Highgate Labour MP Glenda Jackson toured the hall, speaking to standholders, along with deputy leader of Camden Council, Councillor Andrew Marshall. Two thirds of visitors had jobs but were looking for a career change or further training, while a third were unemployed.
The fair – the New Journal’s 19th – attracted a higher degree of skilled people than previous events. Angela Riviere, deputy centre manager of King’s Cross Working, was looking for people to work on King’s Cross redevelopment construction projects. She said: “It was an absolutely amazing event, buzzing, very busy, extremely productive and positively exhausting!
“Considering how specialist construction is, I saw hundreds of people within the construction industry and I think we served the purpose of the majority of people who came to the stand.”
Visitors enjoyed performances by hotly-tipped young singer Dasha Kirilishina, 14, and pianist Olga Muntyanu, 15, both students at Anglo-Russian music school Musica Nova. |
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