Member Article

Unique Sunderland recruitment fair to showcase 800 jobs

More than 800 jobs will be up for grabs at a unique event in Sunderland that is turning the traditional recruitment fair on its head by allowing candidates to ‘shine’ and demonstrate their potential to more than 10 employers in one day.

Shine Sunderland takes place on February 12 at the Stadium of Light. Organised by recruitment and training specialist CCP, with support from Sunderland City Council, the innovative event gives contact centre candidates the chance to show off their abilities to employers in a Talent Showcase.

People wishing to do so must be pre-assessed and coached in advance, and register with CCP by 30th January 2014.

For those who turn up on the day there’s also a traditional jobs fair where people can meet potential employers looking for staff, network and find out what opportunities are available.

The Sunderland event will be the second in a planned series of Shine showcases. The first, held in Newcastle in October, welcomed 11 employers in the customer services and call centre sectors who saw almost 270 candidates take part in the Talent Showcase, of which over 200 found a new job.

The contact centre industry is one of Sunderland’s biggest sectors, employing around 14,000 people. Contact centres generate over £200 million a year for the city’s economy and have continued to thrive despite the ups and downs of the economic cycle.

The Talent Showcase gives people who have been pre-assessed by CCP an opportunity to ‘shine’. They will take part in a range of assessments to show off their abilities and CCP wants to hear from people who would like to take part. Numbers for this part of the event are limited to 300.

CCP chief executive, Shona Harper, said: “At a traditional recruitment fair, people come in and wander around but this is a much more efficient way for employers to recruit and for candidates to find jobs. It turns the traditional process on its head.

“If candidates were to apply individually to each of those employers it would take a long time. Similarly, it would take a very long time for those employers to assess that many people through the normal recruitment process.

“This is a very efficient method, and the feedback from candidates has been superb; some people received four or five expressions of interest.”

Sunderland City Council leader, Councillor Paul Watson, said: “I’m delighted that the City Council is partnering with CCP to run this fantastic event.

“Sunderland is known for the strength of its candidates in the contact centre and customer services sectors, and Shine gives jobseekers a real opportunity to find a suitable role much more efficiently than if they used the traditional channels.

“The city remains one of the world’s leading locations for contact centre companies, and the robust performance of Sunderland-based companies relies on having a talented, adaptable workforce. We’re looking forward to seeing the extra jobs Shine Sunderland will create for Sunderland’s economy.”