Jobs chief’s pledge to seek out city’s talent

THE head of an organisation tasked with getting Dundonians into work has pledged to “find the city’s talent”.

Laurie Russell, chief executive of Wise Group, made the statement at the launch of the social enterprise’s Dundee Employability Pipeline.

The project is aimed at providing support for jobless people and helping them find sustainable employment.

It is hoped the new £1.3m contract — part of the European Structural Funds 2014-2020 programme — could benefit about 2,000 people.

Held at Discovery Point, partners at the event included Dundee City Council, and local third sector organisations including DEAP, One Parent Families Scotland, ENABLE Scotland and ProjectScotland.

Laurie said: “We want to work together with as many partners in the city as possible, and find the talent that exists here.”

Dundee City Council’s employability manager, Allan Millar, said there was a commitment to providing a “quality service, to focus on the needs of individual clients”, as well as responding to labour market demands and the needs of individual employers.

He said: “Since August 2016 the Wise Group has supported 217 people to achieve qualifications, and helped 107 people into work. That’s a good achievement in under a year for a contractor that’s fairly new to the city.”

The partners will adopt a five-stage plan to help people into work — engaging with people, assessing their personal needs, assessing their employability needs, helping with job matching and providing in-work and aftercare support.

The group’s aim is to engage with 1,988 people over the next two years, and of those, Mr Millar said that about 800 — or 40% — is the number targeted at gaining, and remaining in employment.

When asked where the jobs will come from, Mr Millar said care, health, tourism and leisure were key industries.

He added: “In the regeneration of the city, the jewel in the crown is the V&A but that’s not the be-all-and-end-all of what we are doing in Dundee. What we want to do is increase the total stock of jobs in Dundee.”

The launch comes as the Tele continues its Let’s Get Dundee Working campaign, aimed at getting as many people as possible into work.