Thousands of hopefuls attend Wirral jobs fair in New Brighton

May 23 2011 By Liam Murphy

Thousands attend job fair in Wirral

MORE than 4,000 hopefuls attended one of the biggest job fairs held in Wirral.

The event at the Floral Pavilion today was largely to help employers and potential employees fill vacancies at the new development in New Brighton.

Almost 800 jobs are expected to be created by the Neptune development, Marine Point, which includes a Morrisons supermarket, casino, cinema and restaurants, bars and cafes plus a hotel.

The scheme is expected to be completed later this year, along with hundreds of jobs at the new Asda supermarket in Birkenhead.

Among those looking for work at the jobs fair were Rebecca Traves, 22, and Gemma Barber, 21, both from Greasby.

Rebecca, who has been looking for work since January, said she had seen some interesting jobs but most of the employers were not expecting to take people on for several months.

And Gemma who has admin experience but said she was prepared to try other tyupes of job, added: "It was useful, but slightly frustrating that most of the jobs are months away."

Sean Smith, 21, from Wallasey, said although he has a job it is due to end in August. Although he works in IT he also said he would do other types of work.

He said: "It was a bit chaotic, but I managed to put my CV in to a few places.

"A lot of them were taking names to send out application forms."

Wirral Council’s interim director of corporate services, Kevin Adderley, said it had been a successfull event, and they had worked closely with Jobcentre Plus and employers to help people access the jobs as the become available.

Mr Adderley said the aim of the jobs fair was to allow employers to see applicants, and vice versa, and enable those who need help to qualify for the jobs to get it, "not about filling vacancies".

He said: "Hopefully this will give employers great heart that they will have some absolutely wonderful people working in their establishments when they open."