Successful job creation scheme wants more third sector employers
Community Jobs Scotland (CJS) is accepting new employer applications for its fifth successive year.
The scheme funds third sector employers to give work to young people for a guaranteed duration of 39 weeks for 16 and 17-year-olds or a minimum of 26 weeks for 18 to 24-year-olds.
In 2015-16CJS will create a further 1,000 jobs for young people across Scotland, with 300 of these jobs going to vulnerable young people including ex-offenders, care leavers and young carers.
The total also includes 100 part-time positions for people with disabilities and long-term health conditions, where the employees can work 16 hours a week for at least 12 months.
Jobs created so far cover a wide range of sectors including creative industries, green jobs, retail, sport, social care, hospitality, digital and administration.
Now the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), which administers the scheme, is calling for more third sector employers to take part to offer an even greater range of opportunities for young people.
The programme’s success is reliant on new third sector employers coming forward each year
Donna Mackinnon, director of employment services at SCVO, said CJS was proving its worth many times over both to employees and third sector organisations.
“CJS is a unique offering in Scotland. It has demonstrated it can meet the diverse needs of young people requiring help to take that first step into the world of work,” she said.
“Employers value the opportunity to have an additional employee, to increase the diversity of their workforce, to provide additional support to a young person and to increase their capacity to deliver and develop the range of services they provide.
“SCVO works with hundreds of organisations across all 32 local authority areas in Scotland to create these job opportunities.
“However, the programme’s success is reliant on new third sector employers coming forward each year, as well as those we have worked with previously.”
Ed, a 22 year old CJS admin assistant for volunteering charity Xchange Scotland, said the scheme was essential in getting him on the first rung of the career ladder.
At the end of his CJS contract, he ended up volunteering for the charity until they were able to secure enough funding to reemploy him – initially part-time and later full-time.
He is still working with the organisation over three years after his original CJS contact began.
“CJS really did some wonderful things for me,” he said.
“I cannot imagine where I would be in life without it and to miss out on the opportunities that I have had.”
