Jobcentre Plus

Jobcentre Plus held eight job fairs across South Wales over the last fortnight with 7,200 people turning out to take advantage of more than 3,000 jobs that were on offer.

The series of job fairs kicked-off at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on September 4, and headed to Llantrisant, Ammanford, Carmarthen, Llanelli, Caerphilly and Newport, before ending in Bridgend on September 10.

Well-known employers, such as: British Gas, Tesco, Asda, Lloyds TSB, Marks & Spencer and Next - to name but a few - took part to advertise full and part-time vacancies across the region.

Stephen Timms, Employment Minister, said:

"I know some parts of Wales have suffered job losses in recent months as a result of the global credit crunch. These job fairs were intended by Jobcentre Plus to make our services more accessible to people in those areas, and help get them back into work as quickly as possible.

"We're determined to get work for those who can, and help for those who can't.

Linda Badman, Jobcentre Plus Customer Services Director for Wales, added:

"The turnout for these job fairs has been tremendous. Each event exceeded our expectations, and hopefully we'll have the same amount of interest at our job fairs in Blackwood and Llandudno later this month."

The Blackwood jobs fair takes place at Blackwood Miners' Institute on Tuesday, September 23, while the Llandudno jobs fair takes place at Llandudno Town Hall on September 24.

People who cannot attend either of these job fairs should contact Jobseeker Direct for details about vacancies on local rate telephone number 0845 6060234. The text phone number for people who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech difficulties is 0845 6055255. Lines are open from 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays or you can use the Job Search.