9th October 2007 - MALL HELPED OPEN DOOR TO THOSE STRUGGLING FOR WORK

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."