Jobs & employability blog

binar on Thursday 10 November will address the cost-of-living crisis and the challenges faced by charity trustees in steering their organisations through the post pandemic recovery. Read more

It’s been a busy ten months for the goodmoves team. As the covid vaccination programme rolled out, the recruitment adverts kept rolled in, with organisations keen to press on with pent-up recruitment from various lockdowns and restrictions. From fundraising to community... Read more

After celebrating the 10,000th job created by Community Jobs Scotland, I’m writing this piece with a heavy heart. The scheme has been a great success for the young people benefitting from the jobs and for the hundreds of voluntary organisations who have been able to create and... Read more

A national employability programme which supports young jobseekers into employment in the voluntary sector is being recognised in Parliament this week after celebrating its 10,000th employee. The Community Jobs Scotland (CJS) programme, funded by the Scottish Government and... Read more

Historic Environment Scotland (HES), Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIFA) and SCVO have joined forces to support heritage organisations of all types to create new jobs for young, unemployed people though the Kickstart programme. They are looking for heritage... Read more

Young people and job seekers in communities across Scotland will be able to access free training to support work skills and career prospects through a new portal launched today (9 March 2021). The Skills for Work portal has been developed by The Open University in partnership... Read more

Graeme, 28, is a former CJS employee who worked with CJS employer Scottish Sports Futures. We asked him about his experience: How did you get involved with CJS? I had just finished at The University of Stirling and with an underlying health condition – Ulcerated Colitis - I was... Read more

SCVO has helped thousands of young jobseekers across the country find work through its Community Jobs Scotland (CJS) programme, which works with voluntary sector organisations to offer young people aged 16 to 29 years a job. The programme focusses on those who are most... Read more

Since lockdown hit, we’ve worked together as a staff team at SCVO to do everything we can from our makeshift desks and offices to support the voluntary sector to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. I’m proud of everything we’ve done and I’m even more proud to tell you about a... Read more

COVID-19. Pandemic. Furlough. Lockdown. Zoom. FM briefing. Social Distancing. Clap for carers. We’ve heard these phrases a lot over the past three months but my favourite so far has been ‘unmute’ in online webinars and calls – so I thought I’d do just that to blog about... Read more

SCVO has come together with the Third Sector Employability Forum (TSEF) to combine the knowledge within TSEF and its network on employability, and the capacity of SCVO to reach the whole of the voluntary sector and to liaise with government. TSEF provides an effective, collective... Read more

A total of 8.4 million jobs in the UK have been furloughed (as of 24 May), many of whom would have likely been made redundant if the government hadn’t launched the Job Retention Scheme (JRS), which currently pays 80% of employees’ wages. This has come at a cost of over £17.... Read more

Kevin, 21, is a CJS employee with Achieve More Scotland. Here he shares his experience of the programme: “First I was a participant so I was just like the kids we have at the Easter camp. Playing football, getting involved, making friends and stuff like that. Then after that a... Read more

Craig, 22, became a CJS employee three years ago and is now employed full time with Achieve More Scotland. Here he shares his experience: “When I left school I did a scholarship in engineering because teachers suggested it, but I didn’t enjoy it. Then I did a job for a bit and it... Read more

Paul Fletcher is a Community Jobs Scotland employer with Achieve More Scotland. Here he shares his experience of the CJS programme: “We’re a community based youth organisation that works across areas of West Central Scotland, using sport and physical activity, youth work... Read more

Ben Harman is a Community Jobs Scotland employer from Stills . Here he shares his experience with the CJS programme: "Stills was established in 1977 and is the oldest dedicated photography venue in Scotland. We have always been based in Edinburgh’s old town and most people know... Read more

Katy Hundertmark, 26, became a CJS employee with Stills a year ago. Here she shares her experience with the CJS programme and how she utilised the training fund: "I became aware of CJS in October 2017 when I stumbled across a job advertisement on Creative Scotland’s opportunity... Read more

I left school with good grades, a HNC in Media and Communications, and an offer of an unconditional into year two of Events Management at my chosen university. My dream (or so I thought at the time) was coming alive and I left high school so excited and confident about my future... Read more

It’s an exciting (and busy!) time for the CJS team. After six successful phases which have created 7,670 jobs, we're now into Phase 7 of Community Jobs Scotland, with the aim of creating and filling another 700 third sector jobs for unemployed, vulnerable young people by the end... Read more

Phase seven of CJS programme is lift off Read more

How Community Jobs Scotland helped one man reach his true potential Read more

Claire Delahay from Glenbiog Neighbourhood House refelects on the benefits of Community Jobs Scotland Read more

David Maxwell from Volunteer Glasgow reflects on why SCVO’s “big idea” aligns with existing volunteering needs, strategies and policy issues. Read more

Lena Gillies from Dyslexia Scotland says employers are missing out by overlooking potentially great applicants Read more

Peter Greenway from CEIS Ayrshire on the transformative experience of Community Jobs Scotland for four ex-offenders Read more

Your CJS employee probably won’t have much experience of preparing for an interview. So how do you help them cross the final hurdle? Read more

I’m sure I’m not alone in looking back and thinking that the skills I’ve learned since leaving school have been as important if not even more so than what I learned before. I have to admit to one exception: learning to touch type has saved me countless hours of pecking at the... Read more

How you can help your employee get a head start in their job search Read more

What you can do to help your employee discover the career they'll love. Read more

How to help CJS employees to identify their skills and feel confident talking about them in job applications and at interviews. Read more

The CJS training fund can provide £200 for additional training and/or employability support for each CJS employee. Eligible uses include training course costs, training materials like workbooks and examination costs. Here are some examples of appropriate courses. Generic courses... Read more