By Kirsty Green of Derby Evening Telegraph

For 2,850 people, the excitement of today's grand opening of Westfield Derby will be mixed with first-day nerves. Unlike most visitors who will be there to enjoy the new shopping experience, they will be at the big event to start new jobs. Kirsty Green reports on how the mall has provided employment for those most in need in the city.

It may sound strange for a fully-qualified lawyer to be excited at working in a restaurant - but that is exactly how Omid Samavi feels.

Six years ago, he fled his home country of Iran, where his life was in danger.

He came to Derby and was granted asylum but has never had a paid job here.

Now, thanks to Westfield and help from recruitment service Workstation, he starts serving customers at Pasta 4 U today.

"I am so happy to have my new job," said the 35-year-old of Wilson Street, Derby.

"If I had stayed in my own country, my life would have been in danger because of the political situation and the Government not liking the job I did as a lawyer.

"I feared I would be killed if I stayed there so I left and came to England."

Because of Home Office rules, he could not look for a job as an asylum seeker and instead volunteered to help other refugees in the city.

But since he was granted asylum three years ago, his search for work to support himself and wife Nasrin, whom he met in Derby, had been fraught with hurdles.

"It was so hard for me to find a job. I applied to lots and went to interviews but because, at first, my English was not very good, people did not want me to work for them.

"I tried very hard to improve my English but it was still difficult to find a job."

That is why he registered at Workstation - the recruitment agency set up to find positions for people in some of the city's most deprived areas - where he was put on a retail course to improve his skills.

"People may think it is strange because I have a degree and was a lawyer but all I want is to be able to work and earn money for me and my wife and now I can do that," he said.

"That is because of Workstation and Westfield."

Of the 2,850 vacancies at the extended shopping centre, around 10 per cent have been filled through Workstation - a partnership between Westfield, Derby City Council and JobCentre Plus with funding from organisations including Derby City Partnership.

The project was launched in March with the opening of a shop in the Corn Exchange in Albert Street. Westfield vacancies were advertised from May.

By mid September, it had been inundated with enquiries from employers such as Monsoon and Marks and Spencer, who were looking to recruit, and 4,433 people had registered for the vacancies.

Of those, 1,372, or 31 per cent, were jobless from the neighbourhoods in Derby with the highest unemployment rates, such as Arboretum and Normanton - key targets for the project. One third of registrations came from Normanton.

Leader of the city council and Normanton ward councillor Chris Williamson said he was delighted with the success of Workstation in such areas.

"The Workstation initiative has helped to ensure that many of these new jobs have gone to people who were previously unemployed," he said.

"By targeting unemployed workers, we have been able to give people the dignity and hope for the future that is secured through work. This is just what Normanton, and wards like it, have been crying out for, and I'm delighted with the work that has been done in these areas."

Workstation has given advice and support to 2,517 people and found around 300 people jobs at Westfield. Of those people who have been found jobs, more than 140 were previously unemployed.

Other positions were filled largely from advertising in the Evening Telegraph.

Alison Maplethorpe, operations manager at Workstation, said the scheme had been a huge success.

"This is the first time Westfield has been actively involved in a recruitment scheme like this and they want to replicate it in other areas, so they were eager for it to be a success," she said.

"We have been literally inundated with people coming in for jobs or wanting advice. Some days have been manic."

"We have been open to everyone but with emphasis on supporting people in those disadvantaged areas. They have received extra help and training from us.

"We have put more than 86 people through training of some description and we have also held mock interviews for people."

Free food hygiene, health and safety and computer courses were among those provided through Workstation. But Workstation's work does not end here. It will now focus on finding jobs for people in new hotels and restaurants destined for the city. The base in Corn Exchange will close early next year but the staff will work in the neighbourhoods around Derby city centre.

Like Omid, Workstation helped Jaswinder Kaur Dhadi, of Littleover, to find a job at Westfield.

She wanted work which would be flexible around the schooling of her children, aged six and seven.

"I'm not the sort of person who likes to sit at home. I wanted to get out and meet people and earn money.

"I applied for jobs at supermarkets but couldn't get anything that matched the hours I wanted," said the 31-year-old, of Taverners Crescent.

"Then I went to Workstation and they found me a job at Pearl Boutique, which specialises in Indian jewellery and clothes and would let me do the hours I wanted so I could pick my children up from school and drop them off."

Mrs Kaur will start her new job today, as will Nazar Iqbal, who will be working for the first time in five years.

The former nanny took time out to spend with family in Ireland but returned to Derby last year, eager to find a new direction for her career and support her elderly mother.

She was still searching 12 months later until she found Workstation.

"I live with my mother, who has not been well and is elderly, so I need to be able to look after her," said Miss Iqbal, of Portland Street, Normanton.

"I hadn't been able to find jobs on my own because I didn't have experience in retail.

"Workstation helped me learn about the companies I went to for interviews, to prepare me and we did mock interviews as well."

The 26-year-old will start her job at clothing store Bestsellers today.

"For me, this is a dream to be able to work in retail. I looked for months for a job in the city and there were none around but now Westfield is here there are lots and I feel lucky to have had the help to get one of them."

 

 Hundreds Flock to Join Queue In Shops For Jobs

BY JAMES COXON
JCOXON@DERBYTELEGRAPH.CO.UK

09:30 - 05 June 2007   

 Stores that are due to open in Derby's new £310m shopping centre have been inundated with people hoping to secure a job.

Clothes retailers H &M and Next said that they have had a massive response to recruitment advertisements, while more than 1,500 people have registered with Workstation, which was set up to help people find employment at the centre.

A spokeswoman for H &M said that the company was looking for 56 employees and that the company was delighted with the response to the advertisements.

She said: "Whenever we open a new store, we get positive feedback from people who want to work for us.

"We're very pleased that Derby is no different and we look forward to interviewing all the people who've applied."

Next has also been encouraged by the response from people. A spokesman for the company said: "We've received many applications for the jobs at the new store in Westfield Derby.

"We can't wait to offer people in the city our great products at the new store and we're very pleased that local people who've applied for the jobs will be part of that."

Next and H &M are also recruiting staff through Workstation, which opened in March in the Corn Exchange, Albert Street. The centre will help people to apply for the 2,850 job opportunities due to be created by the opening of the extended shopping centre on October 9 - 27 months after work started.

Marks and Spencer, 3G, Topshop and Monsoon are also using the centre to recruit staff.

A spokesman for Workstation said: "We've had more interest than we expected and we've had a great response to Workstation and feedback about the Westfield Derby development in general."

John Forkin, director of Marketing Derby, which was set up to promote the city, said: "You hear positive talk about the shopping centre but people often forget that the site will create almost 3,000 jobs. Over the next few months, we'll see many businesses taking on employees from the area, which will benefit the city."

Other stores to sign up for space in the development are mobile phone stores Carphone Warehouse, O2 and Vodafone, coffee shops Costa and Gratzia Coffee, Zumo juice bar, The Perfume Shop and fashion stores Republic, Xplicit, Baronjon, Pearl Boutique, Eltex, Ministry of Design and Trade Secrets.

Arts and collectables store Thomas Kinkade will also be opening, as well as jewellers F Hinds and Judith Hart of Derby, health and beauty shop Tai-ji, computer store CEX and stationers Paperchase.

Debenhams and Marks and Spencer have already started fitting out their shops and other names which will be joining them include fashion outlets River Island, Accessorize, New Look, Dorothy Perkins, La Senza and Jane Norman.

For more details about Workstation, call Derby 715304

workstation secures major recruitment contracts

As Westfield Derby release the go live date of 9th October 2007 for the opening of their new shopping centre, workstation have responded by securing major contracts with retailers.

Official Launch of the workstation premises at Albert Street 

The workstation project was officially launched on the 26th of March 2007 by the Mayor of Derby, Councillor John Ahern. In his speech he applauded the efforts of the team lead by the project manager Suman Gupta in getting the project up and running.He said that this partnership of the Derby City Council, Job Centre Plus, Learning and Skills Council, Westfield , the various community organisations and training providers to help local people get job ready and into work in Westfield is a wonderful way of helping people who need extra support to get back into work.

WORKING TO PUT JOBLESS AT HEART OF EAGLE CENTRE

BY DAVID WALSH

09:30 - 11 September 2006 A project to help Derby's unemployed to apply for the new jobs which are being created at the Eagle Centre is being launched.

Workstation is a partnership aiming to improve skills of the jobless to give them a better chance of taking advantage of the new openings.

The Eagle Centre will double in size when its £330m extension opens at the end of next year, and part-owner Westfield estimates that 2,850 jobs will be created.

The shops to have already signed up are Marks and Spencer, Debenhams, Topshop, Next, Zara, H &M, Monsoon, 3G, Beaverbrooks, Eltex, Pearl Boutique, New Look, Dorothy Perkins and Accessorize.

Workstation is a £695,000 project, funded by organisations including Westfield, Derby City Council and the Job Centre, which aims to fill those vacancies.

Project manager Suman Gupta has already been appointed and the scheme is now advertising for a second project manager to operate in the Normanton area, which has the city's highest level of unemployment.

Also being advertised are two recruitment adviser roles and two jobs as project co-ordinators.

It is hoped all five vacancies will have been filled by early November, when Workstation will begin talks with retailers coming to the Eagle Centre to understand their needs.

Ms Gupta said: "There is a massive amount of jobs that will come to Derby when the Eagle Centre extension opens, and what nobody wants is a brand new centre with no staff to run it.

"Hopefully, we can help recruit the staff that are needed and at the same time help unemployed people get back into jobs."

There were 4,955 people seeking jobseekers allowance in Derby in July. The largest levels were in the council wards of Normanton (632) and Arboretum (885). As well as covering the city centre, Arboretum covers the northern part of the suburb of Normanton.

Ms Gupta is based at council offices in Friar Gate, but talks are under way to secure permanent premises, possibly in Albert Street.

Along with Ms Gupta, one recruitment adviser and project co-ordinator would encourage people from across the city to take part. The second project manager, recruitment adviser and project co-ordinator would operate in Normanton.

There would also be a Job Centre employee seconded to the project.

Training courses will be offered to anybody who signs up. The content of the courses will be based on the responses of retailers as to their requirements.

When retailers eventually decide to advertise for jobs, their first port of call will be Workstation.

New Eagle Centre jobs will go to city people

BY ANDREW HIBBERD

09:30 - 19 January 2006

Nearly half-a-million pounds has been earmarked to ensure most of the jobs created by the Eagle Centre extension will go to Derby people.

The money will be used to fund a project, similar to one used at another city centre retail development in Birmingham, that saw almost nine out of 10 jobs filled by locals.

Councillor Dave Roberts, cabinet member for personnel, performance management and economic development, said: "If it's as successful at placing people into jobs in Derby as it was in Birmingham, it will go a long way to finding work for the unemployed."