The Northern Logistics Academy has further helped to promote the range of career opportunities available in the growing logistics sector following The Zone open event, held at the Kirkby Campus.
The Zone is a unique facility at the Northern Logistics Academy’s Kirkby Campus, sponsored by OneArk. It offers users full support in boosting employability, with support in health and wellbeing and overcoming barriers to work alongside bespoke themed workshops in logistics and skills building. The service provides access to apprenticeships and other training pathways, with expert advice on hand from the Northern Logistics Academy’s logistics specialists, and Knowsley Community College’s dedicated WorkWorld team.
The event, a collaboration between OneArk, JobCentre Plus and the Northern Logistics Academy, aimed to launch The Zone to potential users – highlighting the opportunities available and how the service can be used to boost employability and advance career pathways. It featured the first work club of its kind in the country, fully supported by JobCentre Plus.
With a range of partners delivering talks and promoting opportunities, users were able to hear from organisations such as 5 Boroughs Partnership, promoting lifestyle awareness, Wellbeing Enterprises offering mental health awareness support, and Asentiv – providing a mini masterclass in motivation and change in securing employment.
The sessions were delivered alongside a core theme in logistics from the Northern Logistics Academy, promoting careers and training in the logistics sector – an industry vital to the economy of the Liverpool City Region with a workforce of around 250,000 in the North West alone (Skills for Logistics – Sector Skills Assessment 2010). Key information and guidance on careers in the sector was available with advice on apprenticeships and training, and a live jobs board displayed some of the many opportunities available in the sector locally.
Over 170 people attended the event, which was a resounding success. Over 25 users were able to liaise with the Northern Logistics Academy to investigate a career in the logistics sector, with over 50 considering apprenticeships and over 25 working with partners to develop their employability skills.
Dave Verburg, one of the guest speakers at The Zone event, was thrilled with the success of the event. “I have been delivering employability support sessions for nearly five years now and this was by far the best experience for the clients I have seen”, he said, “The Zone provided a holistic all round space for clients to actually feel part of their own journey back into successful training or employment”.
The Zone is one of many facilities available at the Northern Logistics Academy, a logistics and transport training specialist based in the Northwest of England delivering sector specific training and qualifications. Based across two sites in Kirkby and St Helens, the Northern Logistics Academy boasts state of the art equipment from pallets and forklift warehousing to simulated lean manufacturing environments, to promote careers and training within the logistics sector to those at all levels.
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
The Northern Logistics Academy is a logistics and transport training specialist, based in the Northwest England, delivering sector specific training and qualifications. A collaboration between St Helens College and Knowsley Community College, the Academy is the result of a £3 million investment following a successful bid from the Liverpool City Region’s Growth Deal Fund. It forms part of Liverpool City Region’s pledge to invest over £40 million in a range of projects designed to meet employer needs, helping bridge skills shortages and develop the workforce of tomorrow.
The Northern Logistics Academy is co-located in Kirkby and St Helens and has received backing and support from key industry bodies and employers in the sector including Wincanton, Warrant Group, Stena Line and the Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics. Our innovative offer, developed with and for employers, addresses the needs of the logistics sector, both now and for the future. We pride ourselves in providing businesses with the ability to up-skill existing staff as well as having access to a pipeline of professionals.
