IKEA OPEN DAY ON MONDAY 23 OCTOBER 10 - 2 at DARNALL FORUM

For immediate use

Following recent publicity, on Radio Sheffield and in The Star newspaper, that not enough local people were getting jobs at the new IKEA store, local councillors have moved swiftly to help residents in Darnall Ward to get help with the application process.

Councillors Mazher Iqbal, Mary Lea and Zahira Naz are helping to fund an open day at Darnall Forum, next-door to Darnall Post Office, on Monday 23 October from 10 till 2. The current vacancies are mainly for jobs in the new IKEA call centre, which will be based in the Sheffield store, however there will also be advice about how to apply for future vacancies in the store itself. 

There has been  unprecedented  interest in the open day, with 1,493 people looking at at our original Facebook post about it and another 806 reached by a follow-up post of Facebook yesterday. All of the 32 slots are now taken but residents of Darnall Ward can still drop in for advice just in case one of the people we have booked in for an advice slot doesn't turn up. 

The advisers are all from JobCentre Plus and have lots of experience of what IKEA are looking for and how to apply. There will be extra support for people who receive JSA or ESA, but anyone who lives in Darnall can ask for a slot with one of the advisers.

ENDS

For further information Neil Bishop, Manager, Darnall Forum

E neil@darnall.org.uk M 07800 536642

IKEA Employment Open Day at Darnall Forum on Monday 23 October 10 - 2

In a bid to encourage local residents to apply for jobs at IKEA, our local councillors, Mazher Iqbal, Mary Lea and Zahira Naz, are helping to fund an open day at Darnall Forum on Monday 23 October from 10 till 2. These vacancies are mainly for jobs in the new IKEA call centre which will be based in the Sheffield store, however there will also be advice about how to apply for future vacancies in the store itself. 

There has been unprecedented interest in the open day, with 1,493 people looking at our Facebook post about it and all but six of the 32 slots, (three at 10 o'clock, one at 11 and two at 1pm) are now taken. 

Text 07800 536642 with your name and address (you have to be a resident of Darnall Ward) NOW if you would like one of those remaining spaces. 

If you can't come until later, or you miss out on those places, you can still drop in, just in case one of the people we have booked in for an advice slot doesn't turn up. 

The advisers are all from JobCentre Plus and have lots of experience of what IKEA are looking for and how to apply. There will be extra support for people who receive JSA or ESA, but anyone who lives in Darnall can ask for a slot with one of the advisers.

First Aid Awareness Course at Darnall Forum

First Aid Awareness Course in Tinsley

Celebrating our shared heritage with a spooky Hallowe'en experience

Thanks to sponsorship from Celebrate England, Meadowhall and British Land we bring you another chance to celebrate the shared heritage of people living in England - a spooky Hallowe'en experience for children and their carers!

Instead of going out frightening your elderly neighbours, why not come along and have some spooky fun with us instead? And find out more about some other Autumn English traditions, Mischief Night and the Gunpowder Plot.

OK, 'trick-or-treating', which is either very annoying or a lot of fun depending on your point of view, is an import from America. Hakllowe'en pumpkins are also an American import. Originally, a 'Jack-o-lantern' or Hallowe'en Lantern, was made by carving a turnip - but pumpkins are bigger and easier to carve! The tradition of carving humble turnips at Hallowe'en reminds us though, that Hallowe'en is originally an English custom.

Hallowe'en has its origins in All Hallows Day, November 1, when Christians remember all the faithful departed and sometimes light candles in their memory. Hallowe'en, the evening before All Hallows Day, became celebrated as the night when the souls of the dead are allowed to wander the earth!

Some people link it with an earlier Pagan harvest festival called Samhain which pre-dates the arrival of English culture in these islands. 

Whether that's true or not we can all celebrate Hallowe'en today as a harmless chance to have fun and frighten ourselves a little bit. 

Would you like to work in IKEA's new store? Open day Monday 23 October 10 till 2

There are still 26 vacancies at IKEA's new store in Sheffield and hundreds more in their call centre located inside the store. Would you like to work there? 

If you live in Darnall we are holding an open day with JobCentre Plus between 10am and 2pm on Monday 23 October, to help local residents find out how to go through the online application process. There will be additional support for people on JSA or ESA, but the open day is for ANYONE from Darnall who would like help applying for an IKEA job.

There are 32 slots for one-to-one support. If you would like to guarantee a slot with one of the advisers please email nazia@darnall.orguk or zahira@darnall.org.uk. You can also ring the office on 0114 249 0099, but it is not staffed all of the time.

British Land Working with Darnall Forum to Promote Local Jobs

Darren Pearce, who runs the Meadowhall Shopping Centre, and his colleague Lesley Giddins who liaises on behalf of British Land with local communities when they are looking to create new jobs, are pictured with our development worker Zahira Naz and our manager Neil Bishop in the training space that British Land staff built for us last year. 

They were visiting to talk about new job opportunities in the next five years which will come on stream as part of the planned expansion of Meadowhall.  They are keen to recruit as many local people as possible as part of their strategy of working closely with their local communities.

Some of our IT learners are pictured sitting at the slimline furniture in the training room, which was donated by IKEA.