Retail training is right on the money

Citation

(2010), "Retail training is right on the money", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 42 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2010.03742cab.009

Retail training is right on the money

Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 42, Issue 3

A major European real-estate company teamed up with training companies, colleges and government agencies to create program to prepare people for work in a new shopping center.

Hammerson plc led the 13-member Work Highcross partnership, formed to create qualified employees for the company’s Highcross shopping center in Leicester, UK.

The program included everything from pre-employability Skills for Life and ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) courses through to specific training in retail and hospitality, CV-writing, information-technology and interview skills.

The trainees were unemployed and usually had little or no retail experience. By the time they finished the program they were ready to join a pool of people that employers could choose from with confidence in the quality of their training. By the time Highcross shopping center opened, the partnership had helped more than 600 people into work. Some £2 million was allocated to the training.

Michelle Dawson, Hammerson community manager, said: “One of the major benefits of Work Highcross has been the partnership’s ability to provide training and jobs to the wide range of communities that make Leicester the diverse city it is. Work Highcross has enabled us to do this by providing candidates who have received extra support and specific training in retail skills and customer service, who are ready to meet the demands of the front-line jobs in our center.”

“In my regular interaction with our tenants at Highcross, more than 50 of whom have engaged with the Work Highcross project, I have heard nothing but praise for the support given to them as employers by the Work Highcross project team,” said Highcross general manager Tom Nathan.