Easter egg hunt for jobseekers

Monday, 30 March 2009

By Sam Masters

LONG-TERM jobseekers will take part in an Easter egg hunt to win prizes helping them back into work.

The game will be held by JobCentre Plus contractor Skills Training Centre UK (STC) in Borough.

Thirty-five eggs containing prizes, including security guard licence applications and clothing vouchers, will be hidden between computers and files.

Michael Harknett-Wilson, from Peckham, recently lost his job in banking and uses a Peckham job centre.

He said: “I would say no if they asked me to do it. It’s bad enough that people have to sign on.

“Trying to get back in to work is a nightmare.

"If I had a child it’s something I would expect my child to do while I was signing on. It seems like a kick while people are down.”

Centre manager Catrina Lynch said she could not remember where the idea for the Easter egg hunt came from.

She said: “It is not meant in a demeaning way.

"My idea has always been to show people that there are jobs out there.

“There is a lot of negativity going on at the moment. It’s going to be fun.”

Thomas Ebanks, 20, from Borough, has been using the centre for 10 weeks.

He said: “I think it will be fun. There are not many jobs about now.

“I have had a few interviews from here, but nothing has been going my way.

“This is a good opportunity for people. If other people can’t be bothered to do it, then that is up to them.”

The centre helps people referred from the Jobcentre to find work and is the largest JobCentre Plus contractor in Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth.

The hunt will take place on April 8 at its second-floor offices on Great Dover Street and more than 150 long-term jobseekers will be invited to take part.

Prizes include a Security Industries Authority licence application and payment for a licence to work on building sites.

There will also be vouchers to buy a new suit from Burton or Dorothy Perkins.

A spokeswoman for Southwark-based unemployment charity Tomorrow’s People said it was “not an approach we would take”.

Email: sam.masters@slp.co.uk

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6 comments on this news item

Posted by : Bruce Freak, Australia | Thursday 09/Apr/2009 | Report this comment

Catrina, you’re an idiot

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Posted by : Amy McDonald, London | Wednesday 08/Apr/2009 | Report this comment

This company are demeaning to their staff and the ’customers’ who are forced to attend! I used to work for them and Kat was then a assistant manager. This company encourages lies and falsifing records. They are supposed to offer courses so people can get back into work, shame there are no courses on offer. Many staff I worked with have left and been disillusioned by STUK.

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Posted by : Kevin, Walworth | Monday 06/Apr/2009 | Report this comment

What happens to the people who do not find an egg? Skills Uk are paid by the Jobcentre to give all unemployed people help not just the eagle-eyed. Feels like a stunt dreamed up by clueless participants in the BBC’s Apprentice programme. Katrina your Fired! (but don’t worry you know where the eggs are hidden.

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