The Jobshop, a joint project between the Students’ Union and Enterprise@Lincoln has officially launched on Thursday, giving students an easy way of finding part time work.
While it actually opened last week, the launch was held on Thursday between 11am and 2pm. Staff were outside the SOAP Centre, where the Jobshop is based, to give out information to students and let them sign up for the service.
Jess Anderton, who is in charge of the service, said that Lincoln is one of the last universities to get such a facility. Before it opened, she visited many other institutions to see how their services worked. Some charge employers, but Anderton said that “the main aim is to get the volume of vacancies”.
This seems to have paid off, with employers submitting three or four new jobs every day. There are about 60 listed on the website already.
“We’ve had a really good response from employers,” Anderton said. At the moment the focus is on “building relationships” with businesses. They’ve already been approached by the County and City councils, including about jobs at the Christmas Market.
Steven Greaves, the SU’s vice-president for student welfare, called the service “fantastic”. He said that “it saves a whole lot of time” because of the focus on students, and jobs suitable for them.
Anderton said that it will be a bridge to Opportunities@Lincoln, the university’s careers service. “With the Jobshop, they’ll find part time work. Then they’ll be armed with the skills to move on to Opportunities@Lincoln.”
They will also run workshops where students can learn how to increase their chance of getting a job. Anderton said that employers were saying “that the students have lots skills,” but don’t know how to sell themselves.