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Recruitment starts for 1,000 Birmingham jobs

Recruitment has started for more than 1,000 new jobs at the new Grand Central development in the centre of Birmingham.

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Grand Central is due to open in September and construction has just begun on the final phase of the major new retail and dining destination above the transformed New Street Station.

A mixture of retail, hospitality and customer service rolesare available and training providers are now preparing local candidates to develop the right skills and attributes to meet the expectations of employers coming to the city.

Shilpi Akbar, co-chairman of Birmingham Growth Alliance Partnership and assistant director for employment at Birmingham City Council said; "With over 1,000 jobs being created at Grand Central, this partnership is committed to reflect Birmingham's diverse community and showcase the skills of Birmingham's jobseekers.

"Our work to date has been to develop and co-ordinate high quality training across the city in the customer service, retail and hospitality sectors to ensure unemployed people have access to the range of job opportunities which will arise from Grand Central. "

Grand Central Birmingham will be anchored by a 250,000 sq ft John Lewis shop, one of the retailer's biggest outside of London, which will be providing more than half of the jobs available.

Richard Brown, Grand Central development director said; "Grand Central is committed to providing local jobs for local people. We want to ensure that the opportunities created by the new development are accessible to all and benefit Birmingham".

"The investment John Lewis has made to Birmingham further supports the growth of the city and maximises the opportunities available for local people to work for a leading premium retail brand."

Lisa Williams, head of branch for John Lewis Birmingham, said "We have been working alongside the BGAP for almost two years to develop a pre-employment training package dedicated to ensuring the jobs created by our new shop are accessible to the local community. Our aim as an employer is to reflect the community in which we trade and we're really excited to welcome new partners to the John Lewis Birmingham team in the coming months."

Many local people, including a number of apprentices have already been involved in the construction of Grand Central and New Street Station supporting one of the city's leading priorities: the creation of training, development and employment opportunities for the people within Birmingham.

The Grand Central Jobs Roadshow will be going live this month, with community events across the city promoting employment and training opportunities. Events will be taking place in all 14 Jobcentres across the city, as well as at community venues and city centre venues, supported by the Department for Work and Pensions and the National Careers Service.

Jobseekers wishing to apply for training and job opportunities at Grand Central need to register with the National Careers Service. More information and contact details for the National Career Service can be found by clicking here.

To apply for a role, register for job alerts or find further information about jobs at John Lewis jobseekers can visit http://jlpjobs.com/

While the retailer has already begun recruitment for some specialist roles the majority of jobs will not be advertised until May.

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