Over 1,700 adults improve job prospects

Next Step, the careers and skills advice service is celebrating its first anniversary of helping adults achieve their ambitions and move forward in work and life.

Since its launch one year ago, 1,767 people across the Borough have accessed the Next Step service, gaining careers and skills advice and support.

Next Step provides information and advice to support adults in making appropriate decisions on a full range of careers, learning and work opportunities. All our advisers are professionally qualified to provide careers advice to every visitor to the service, whatever their qualification, skill level or employment status, fuelling the potential of millions of adults and helping them move on in work and life.

Next Step adviser Moira Staines said: “In difficult economic times people need to take all the help they can get to secure a job and our service is completely free to help people in Greater Manchester on their way.

“Over the last year I have helped many local people secure work and training, from young adults struggling to get their first job, to those who are facing redundancy or have been made redundant.

“It’s fantastic that we have been able to support over 45,000 adults in Greater Manchester, but we want even more people to take advantage of our free services.”

Statistics show that over the past 12 months, more than half of Next Step customers were aged between 25 and 49 (54%), three quarters of all customers that spoke to an adviser were out of work (76%) and two out of three visitors to the Next Step website were accessing it for the first time.

Customers can access over 750 different job profiles on the Next Step website, from administration assistant to zookeeper, all containing the essential information needed on what each job involves and how to get in to it. They can also undertake a Skills Health Check and build a CV online.

Moira concluded: “What the Next Step service has enabled adults to achieve in its first year is amazing. So many more people are now better equipped for work and learning, and have an area on-line where they can access the information they require on skills, employment and funding. Everyone should log-on and take a look for themselves at the opportunities on offer.”