Candidates, staff and stakeholders from across the partnership at the course’s celebration event

For the first time the entire cohort of a skills academy in Dundee has been offered a contract with an employer.

All eight of the clients who participated in the Discover Work Partnership academy with Social Security Scotland have been offered 12-month fixed term contracts starting over the next few weeks.

Discover Work Partnership (Dundee Local Employability Partnership) brokered this unique arrangement with Social Security Scotland working with Discover Work Partners to deliver a tailored, intensive training course supported by the employer to help meet their requirements whilst also building the skills and confidence of all candidates who participated.

The course was unique in that Social Security Scotland delegated recruitment to the Partnership and removed their standard application process for the participants as part of the employers ongoing commitment to employ people from diverse backgrounds.

Jack Reid, one of the people who took part in the academy said: “I have found this form of recruitment to be beneficial as it has given me the skills, confidence and knowledge to go into the role.”

The Social Security Scotland Academy is the latest in a number of successful events with specific employers in which the Discover Work Partnership has worked with unemployed residents to support them back into the workforce.