A JOBLESS Huddersfield man who has lost count of the number of jobs he applied for over the past two years is finally in employment.
Nicky Knutton, 23, of Highfields, has begun work as a board sprayer with sealants and fillers manufacturer Polyseam, of Silver Street, Aspley.
His success came with the support of Ingeus, which delivers the government’s Work Programme in West Yorkshire and provides a range of specialist employment services to long-term unemployed people.
Said Nicky: “Sending off application forms and speculative letters was a full time job in itself, but without any reward. The majority of companies I contacted never responded which was very disheartening.
“However, my luck changed with Ingeus. My employment adviser helped me to develop my CV and rebuild my confidence and gave me loads of hints and tips to use at job interviews. They then encouraged me to apply for this job.”
Nicky was appointed with support from the Government’s Youth Contract, which is part of the Work Programme and incentivises employers to offer job opportunities to people aged between 18 and 24.
Polyseam’s production manager Mick White said: “Nicky works hard and really wants to learn new skills. He’s reliable, punctual and gets on with his job, which is all we ever want from our employees.”
Company secretary Denis Gallivan said: “Before partnering with Ingeus, we had to work our way through dozens of application forms for each job we advertised.
“For small businesses like ours that takes up a lot of time that we can’t dedicate to production. Ingeus takes away that strain on our resources by doing all that for us and only putting forward candidates that are most suitable for the roles we have.
“It’s a free service and it means that we can get on with our job.”
“Having a job is so important,” said Nicky. “The last two years have been such a waste of time when all I wanted was a reason to get up each day, to earn a wage, and somehow to make a difference.”
