If you're struggling to find employment and need to gain practical work experience,

The Employability Trust is the brainchild of the founder and CEO of the company, Bill Marley, who through his work for the East Durham Engineering Forum and the Oktoberfest (The North East’s largest manufacturing and engineering exhibition) became aware of the needs of local engineering companies in relation to finding suitable employees and the reluctance of those SMEs to recruit apprentices because of the cost and time involved in training them to the point of being productive employees, and the need for small companies to have multi-skilled employees who are able to undertake a range of production tasks.

In the summer of 2010 Bill secured funding through the East Durham Area Action Partnership (AAP), to run a pilot traineeship programme for 10 young people, working in collaboration with SMEs from the Engineering Forum, which supported the training and development of multi-skilled and experienced trainees. This pilot was highly successful with 10 plus an additional 3 trainees gaining full time employment with local companies. The success of this pilot led to further involvement with the AAP and the identification that the number of unemployed young people in East Durham, as in other similar areas in the North East, is rising, while at the same time employers in the engineering and manufacturing sector have positions they need to fill and cannot find appropriately skilled or experienced staff. This problem will only get worse as the UK economy starts to move out of recession.

The Employability Trust has been established as both a subcontract manufacturing and warehousing resource centre with additional training facilities so that it can address the training and development needs of both employers and young people and support the region to retain and create vital jobs, whilst also addressing the issue of cyclical unemployment by creating a generation of young people who will become positive role models for future generations. The dual nature of the business allows it to offer both training and practical real life business and work experience for trainees with the possibility of direct job opportunities both within our organisation and externally with local employers.

We also offer training in communication, teamwork, critical thinking, behaviour and stress management to ensure candidates have the best possible chance of succeeding in the workplace, as well as access to skills and management techniques they can use in all aspects of their lives. A focus on the 7C’s, confidence, curiosity, collaboration, communication, creativity, commitment, craftsmanship (Claxton & Lucas) ensures that candidates are well rounded and ready to challenge themselves and enter the workforce. This will also start to address the prevalence of social exclusion and mental health problems in East Durham.