Manchester Solutions

Logistics and automotive sector learning and people development company, Manchester based Mantra Learning Limited, www.mantralearning.co.uk, has been selected as one of the lead partners as one of the lead partners to deliver the Government's £100m national Learning & Skills Council (as part of its LSC/ESF co-finance plan) Response to Redundancy initiative.

Mantra is heading a collaboration of eight North West training provider partners, and has created an exciting and distinct brand for its Response to Redundancy product: THE JOB GYM www.thejobgym.co.uk.

Providing personalised training and education support programmes specially tailored to facilitate a swift return to work for people (aged 18 and over) who have recently been made redundant or are under threat of redundancy, THE JOB GYM brand is designed to inject energy into people who are potentially feeling shell-shocked and at a loss.  Learning and 'return to work' solutions are driven by the needs and aspirations of the individual, employers and the local labour market.

Launched to provide high quality, focused training, in order to help the North West's newly unemployed back into work, THE JOB GYM offers specialist assistance to the local workforce and employers in the economic downturn. The new initiative offers up to £1500* worth of high quality, personalised training to meet both the needs of the individual and the labour requirements of the region, at no monetary costs to each learner or company concerned.

With Mantra at the helm, THE JOB GYM brings together high calibre, established organisations with many years of experience in training in subjects as wide-ranging as health & safety to HGV driving; numeracy and secretarial skills, FLT operation and food hygiene. There is also help for self employed contractors whose contracts have ended - leaving the individuals concerned without any source of income.

THE JOB GYM centres also provide individuals with advice and guidance on everything from interview techniques to confidence building, composing a CV and valuable assistance in how best to utilise and apply transferable skills within the current local job market. With a firm focus on energising the individual to help themselves and return to work, THE JOB GYM doesn't focus simply on the long-term unemployed, but often those who have held down one job for most of their working life and are unfamiliar with the job seeking process.

The aim is to get participants ready for work in the same industry with better skills, or help them to shift direction into a new, emerging industry with improved long-term prospects; so that people re-joining the local workforce can swiftly acquire the skills required to apply for jobs on offer in the local communities.

Commenting on the company's Response to Redundancy appointment, Mantra Learning's Executive Director, Mark Currie said, "We are enormously proud to have been appointed to lead a collaboration of providers for the LSC's Response to Redundancy initiative in the North West, via THE JOB GYM . We're confident that by working in conjunction with some of the most respected training companies in the North West, we can pool our collective and complementary skills to devise and deliver people-focused solutions that address the labour requirements for newly redundant people in our region, and help individuals back to economic independence.

Mantra is working with the following North West training partners on THE JOB GYM initiative:

• Alliance Learning
• Asset Training
• Cohesion Legal Services Centre
• Focusing First on People
• Skills City Ltd.
• System Training
• Transport Training Academy
• Lancaster Training Service Ltd.

THE JOB GYM partner organisations offer local community learning centres in many towns across the region, and have major centres in each county, so there's a JOB GYM on people's doorsteps right throughout the region.

Individuals and companies wishing to find out more about THE JOB GYM and the Response to Redundancy initiative in the North West, should call 0845 5436996, or email conker@thejobgym.co.uk for full details of their local JOB GYM learning centre.