A partnership between Britain’s biggest housing associations and Croydon businesses will be launched at the Fairfield Halls next Tuesday, with the ambition of creating hundreds of jobs.

Visitors to the South London Jobs Fair on October 21 will be able to have a job interview on the spot, check out vacancies and business openings, get advice on CV writing, as well as review training courses and other opportunities, including apprenticeships and work experience placements.

Housing associations attending the event will be able to make new contacts with potential
suppliers.

The “resident-friendly employers” initiative is the brainchild of 3D Change, a Croydon Community Interest Company that started by helping small businesses find their way through the technical complexities of winning public sector contracts. It has developed a range of other complimentary services, including a jobs brokerage service operating across south London and Surrey.

“We’ve come a long way since our first event in 2012,” Moira Skinner,
3D Change’s chief executive, said.

“Today Housing Associations, their suppliers, sub-contractors and tenants are linked in a much more sophisticated partnership so that jobs and other employment opportunities can be shared and kept local.

“I am very pleased that Croydon Council is supporting our initiative. This will help make us deliver a more sustainable and effective programme.”

Croydon Council’s CEO, the entrepreneurial Nathan Elvery, and council leader Tony Newman, will be speaking at a gala dinner on the evening of the fair.

Coming to Croydon

• 21st annual Croydon and Sutton Beer Festival, Oct 16-18
• Cinema Ruskin film show, Oct 18
• South Croydon business breakfast, Oct 18
• Purley War Memorial Hospital health fair, Oct 18
• Maya Angelou tribute concert, Fairfield Halls, Oct 18
• Wandle Park wildflower meadow project, Oct 19
• St John’s, Shirley, charity concert, Oct 19
• David Lean Cinema: Mood Indigo, Oct 23
• This Was The World and I Was King, Spread Eagle, Oct 23-25
• Upper Norwood Library Book Club, 2.30pm, Oct 25
• David Lean Cinema: Ilo Ilo, Oct 28
• CODA’s Wind In The Willows, Charles Cryer, Carshalton, Oct 29-Nov 1
• David Lean Cinema: Belle, Oct 30
• NHS free health fair, Central Parade, New Addington, Oct 31
• MOPAC policing meeting, Surrey Street, Nov 4
• Personal safety training for volunteers, Nov 4
• St Giles School opening morning, Nov 5
• Grange Park bulb-planting event, Nov 8
• Albert Einstein – Relativity Speaking, Spread Eagle, Nov 12-15
• South Croydon business breakfast, Nov 15
• Personal safety training for volunteers, Nov 17
• Norwood Society Talk: Lambeth’s Archives, Nov 20
• Choose Your Own Documentary, Spread Eagle Theatre, Nov 21-22
• The Last Sense of Sudden, Spread Eagle Theatre, Nov 27-29
• Ghost Stories for Christmas, Spread Eagle Theatre, Dec 3
• Fog Horn Funnies, Spread Eagle Theatre, Dec 6
• Coulsdon Yulefest, Dec 6-7
• South Croydon business breakfast, Dec 13
• South Croydon business breakfast, Jan 24

• ---

  Inside Croydon: Croydon’s only independent news source, based in the heart of the borough: 407,847 page views (Jan-Jun 2014) If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, a residents’ or business association or local event, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com