TNG, one of the UK’s leading welfare to work training providers, is launching a new service in Macclesfield on 9th April with an open coffee morning for local businesses. From its new office in Sunderland House, Sunderland Street, TNG will be helping local people into employment, and helping employers with their recruitment needs.

TNG delivers Government funded programmes aimed at helping the most hard-to-reach individuals to overcome their barriers to employment, find work and improve their lives. TNG also works with local employers committed to community regeneration to recruit talented locals to help them move off benefits and into work.

Previously, TNG has worked in Macclesfield on an outreach basis. From its new office, TNG will be able to run personalised, focused training and mentoring while providing local businesses with tailored recruitment services.

One person who has benefitted from TNG training, funded by the European Social Fund, in Cheshire is Elizabeth Roughly. Her only previous work experience was in the childcare sector, and she felt that long-term unemployment combined with a lack of experience in other sectors left her with severely limited job opportunities. Added to this, being out of work for 12 months had severely dented Elizabeth’s confidence and led her to believe she had nothing to offer potential employers.

TNG staff encouraged Elizabeth to have more confidence through taking part in sessions such as Self Development, Team Work and Work Ethic as well as one-to one help from the tutor, and she began to believe in herself, and her abilities.

As her confidence increased, TNG helped Elizabeth see how her skills were transferable to other job types that she had not considered before, through helping Elizabeth to identify vacancies and workshops.

To help her gain experience to add to her CV, Elizabeth took part in a work placement in the retail sector, where she gained skills including dealing with the public, cash handling, health and safety and customer service. Having gained this experience, Elizabeth felt more confident about applying for jobs and secured a job at a local cafe, where she was able to use all of these new-found skills.

Jayne Garner, ESF Business Manager at TNG said, "The work that TNG does in Macclesfield benefits the whole community, and we are looking forward to being able to help even more people from our new office. TNG is proud to offer a personalised, tailored service whether you are a business looking to recruit new staff, or someone who has been out of work and needs some help to enter the workplace. Representatives from all local businesses are welcome to come to our coffee morning on 9th April, from 11.30am till 1pm to see what we have to offer and find out how we can help you recruit skilled, enthusiastic and talented local people while helping regenerate the Macclesfield community."