Job-seekers helped to improve their IT skills
Winchester City Council, working with the national charity Sova, has created a new mentor role to help job-seekers in the Winchester area to improve their IT skills and gain nationally recognised qualifications.
The new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Mentor, Bethany Andrews, will work with job-seekers from across the Winchester District, on a one-to-one basis or in small groups, to help with sending emails, creating CVs, completing job applications on-line and using the internet to search for jobs. Job-seekers will be able to work towards a Level 1 Certa qualification in ‘Using Email’, ‘Using the Internet’ and ‘Word Processing’. The ICT Mentor will provide 240 hours of accredited training over a six-month period.
ethany has recently completed a BSc Psychology degree at the University of Portsmouth. She has already been helping job-seekers in her role as a Sova volunteer mentor and is looking forward to helping people develop the IT skills they need for employment.
Kate Cloud, Winchester City Council’s Head of Economy and Arts, said:
This service will build on the successful employment mentoring programme which recruits and trains volunteers to mentor unemployed people and our Employment, Education and Training Co-ordinator who helps job-seekers with securing high-quality work placements and apprenticeships. We are now able to offer job-seekers based in the Winchester District a whole package of support tailored to their individual needs.
Bethany Andrews, Sova’s new ICT Mentor, added:
“I am really looking forward to helping jobs-seekers from across the Winchester District in this rewarding new role. Every individual job-seeker’s needs will be different and I will be shaping the support to the person’s ability and requirements. As well as improving their IT and employability I’m hoping job-seekers will also benefit from increased confidence and motivation to look for jobs or take up further education and training opportunities.”
Around 100 job seekers have already been helped by the Winchester District Employment Programme. IT skills were raised by job-seekers as one of their main barriers to employment. Winchester City Council and Sova were then able to introduce this new ICT Mentor post, thanks to funding from The Charity of Henry Smith (St John the Baptist branch), as a direct result of feedback from job-seekers already on the mentoring programme.
If you are a job-seeker living in the Winchester area and would like help with improving your IT skills please contact Bethany Andrews on 01962 848 396 or via email bethany.andrews@sova.org.uk or alex.solomon@sova.org.uk