A COUPLE who, for the past three years, have relentlessly looked for work, have finally found jobs – alongside each other at BT’s super-sized call centre in Warrington.

Jennifer Stolk, aged 22, and her partner Oliver Newton, aged 21, say they owe their success to Manpower, BT and Ingeus, which delivers the government’s work programme throughout the north west.

The scheme matches unemployed people with jobs and works with employers such as the Gemini based giant to help fill their vacancies.

Having jobs means the couple, from Wavertree, can finally look to the future but, Oliver points out, the satisfaction of being in work means far more just than having money in their pockets.

“Between us, we applied for thousands of vacancies in all kinds of industries and our confidence suffered,” he said. “We began to think we were unemployable and, while we desperately wanted to stand on our own two feet, the constant rejection knocked us over.”

Ingeus supported them as they prepared for work, including helping them write effective CVs and understand what employers looked for in their new recruits.

“We have worked in partnership with Ingeus for some time now to find the right people to fill our vacancies here at BT,” said Gill Wragg, HR team leader at Manpower.

“Our confidence is high because we know Ingeus assesses its client thoroughly for the variety of roles we offer.

“They understand our business and the kind of people we need to make it successful, and Jennifer and Oliver are really good illustrations of our relationship working at its best.”

Manpower was also able to benefit from the government’s Youth Contract, which provides a wage subsidy to employers who offer jobs to people aged between 18 and 24 on the Work Programme.

Jennifer added, “Ingeus and Manpower have supported us and helped us gain our independence through work.

“What they could do, they did, and it’s given us the step up in life that we desperately sought. Neither of us wanted to be unemployed and so we now feel as though there is real future ahead of us.”