Two Pints of Lager and a Job Please! New ‘Job Pub’ Initiative is Launched

Published on: 24 Jul, 2012
Updated on: 25 Jul, 2012

Anne Milton MP formally Opening the Job Pub

A new ‘Job Pub’ initiative has been launched by Guildford MP Anne Milton.

Speaking at the launch venue, the Stoke Hotel, on Friday (20 Jul) Anne said it was important to encourage those seeking work to meet and get advice in places where they did not feel nervous about crossing the threshold: “For some that might be a church hall, for others a pub, there needs to be a range of venues.”

She thanked Guildford Borough Council for providing the funding pointing out that local councils are often subject to a lot of criticism and it was too easy to forget some of the good work the councils do or finance.

Chris Stanton, co founder with Richard Fox of the Guildford Job Club and event organiser said: “We are very grateful to Guildford Borough Council and in particular the Head of Economic Development Chris Mansfield for their support in arranging the first grant of £10,000 to help us expand the Job Club.”

Describing the assistance also received from St saviours Church and St saviours Church Chris said: “You begin to see why we describe Guildford Job Club as The Community at Work.

“Over time our Job Club sessions have become more varied – offering group activities, networking and 1:1 coaching.

Jackie Bruder, Surrey Community Action, Anne Milton MP and Chris Stanton, co-founder of the Guildford Job Club of which the Job Pub at the Stoke Hotel in Stoke Road is a part

“Last autumn we joined forces with Surrey Lifelong Learning Partnership who shared our vision of daytime community job clubs on local estates as well as in the town centre. Their loan of laptops and a printer enabled us to help people create CVs, surf the internet for jobs, make job applications and rehearse interview questions. We have links with John’s innovative Guildford Bike Project as well as E-Skills Solutions and Learndirect, all of them important partners for us.

“Since 2009 Guildford Job Club has developed from a single fortnightly club to three weekly clubs delivered in Stoke and Westborough as well as at St Saviour’s.

“The Job Pub adds four new weekday sessions to the existing Monday Job Club. I opened the Job Pub here informally on Tuesday 3 July and have already recruited nearly 10 of the 250 women, over-50s or lone parents that our £12000 Community Grant from the European Social Fund will help us to reach.”

Chris also thanked the manager of The Stoke, Ahmad Chabaan: “When I first met him he was looking for a community project to support and this fitted the bill. As an employer he wants to volunteer his services on CVs and interview techniques – basic topics maybe but which many people need help with.”

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