Students to unveil plan to get town back to work

TEENAGERS in Mallow are taking action to get their town back to work.

As opposition parties increase the pressure on the Government on the country’s jobs crisis, transition year students at Davis College, Mallow, will stage a Career Vision Expo in the Hibernian Hotel tomorrow.

They have brought together local and national companies as well as voluntary and community organisations to exhibit their services and to provide support and advice to the unemployed.

Exhibitors will include Aviva, Pfizer, Fás, MABS, Citizens Information, North Cork Enterprise Board, St Vincent de Paul, Mallow, Chamber of Commerce, and Mallow College of Further Education. A human resources expert will also be available to help update their CVs on the spot.

Students hope another initiative – a voluntary two-week job placement scheme – will be adapted and rolled out nationwide.

The students approached local businesses and matched their needs with selected unemployed people.

The scheme’s progress has been charted in a DVD which will be sent to all VEC schools in Cork soon in the hope that it will be implemented nationwide.

The initiative was undertaken is part of a transition year project after studying CSO Live Register figures.

The January figures for Cork showed 44,893 are receiving welfare benefit, compared with 31,535 for the same period last year.

While the increase in towns across north Cork was not as severe as for January 2009, each of the region’s four social welfare offices recorded annual increases in excess of 40%.