Health and Care Jobs Fair – 8 July 2024

The Wakefield District Health and Care Partnership are a group of employers, who provide health and care services to people in the Wakefield area.

This partnership includes:

• healthcare organisations who run our local hospitals; GP services; the ambulance service; mental health services; and those who provide healthcare services in other places, like the new Community Diagnostic Centre, located at Westgate Retail Park in Wakefield.
• care organisations who run care homes or provide care and assistance to more vulnerable members of our community either at their home or in other places, to help them live independently. This may include providing housing support or physical support.

The team at St Mary’s Community Centre and the Job Centre and Step Up teams will also be there to help you find their way round the event and introduce you to the employers.

We understand that job hunting can be a stressful thing to do, especially if you have never worked or not worked for a long time. Knowing where to look for work or what type of work is available and also making an application.

Employers understand this and, while we know there is support available through Job Centre Plus and the Wakefield Step Up team, we also know that having the opportunity to speak directly to employers in a more relaxed setting is often helpful too.

Holding one event with lots of employers in a local community setting hopefully makes it easier for you to attend and get more information from the event.

You may already know that you would enjoy working in healthcare or in a care organisation and want to talk to someone about how you can apply for a job at one of the local employers near where you live, or you might be curious to find to more about these types of employers and what jobs you can do (many people we talk to find there is a lot that they do not know about working in health and care).

If you are looking for work now or thinking about looking for work in the future, you will find this event helpful. You may, for instance, have a disability or have been caring for a relative for a period of time and are unsure of how to return to paid employment.  There are many of different jobs you could do – you don’t have to do a job which is directly caring for someone. People who work for these employers enjoy working in many other jobs such as catering, cleaning, driving and IT – all of which still help people in the community.

There are also opportunities to find out about training programmes and volunteering programmes, which are a great way of getting some experience before applying for work.

When you arrive, there will be people near the front door to say hello and welcome you and they will probably ask you a couple of questions to help understand if there’s anything specific you want to get out of the day so they can then direct you to the most appropriate people to speak to.

The event may be quite busy and some of the rooms may be quite loud, it is ok to tell people if you are worried about that or feeling nervous and need some support.

All the employers will have stalls in the main room, a bit like a marketplace. Some will also be using other rooms to interview people for jobs. There will usually be a small number of people on each stall so they can talk to you and other people at the same time, and you do not have to wait too long.

Some of the employers may ask you if you want to be interviewed for a job while you are at the job fair. Its ok to say no thank you, but if you do, they will take you to a smaller, quiet room where you will have your job interview. Other employers may ask you for some information so they can send you more details or talk to you again after the event. You will be able to find out some more information about the employers on this page.  There may be other employers at the job fair, so we may update this information either at the briefing session or before the job fair.

You do not have to speak to all of the employers. You may know exactly what type of work you want to do, or you may want to speak to certain employers, or you may just want to walk around and explore the fair first.

We love meeting people who want to do work that helps other people and who are curious about what we do, as you may want to apply for work with us (and we are sometimes nervous about meeting people for the first time too).

This depends on what you want to do. The job fair runs from 10am until 3pm and you can arrive at any time during that period. There is no time limit, and you can take as much or as little time as you like talking to employers and looking at the information.

If you choose to have a job interview during the job fair, you will be there for longer as you will need to allow enough time for your interview (you may need to wait a little bit of time for your interview if there are lots of people choosing to have an interview but the interview should be no longer than half an hour) and then there will be some time for you to complete some paperwork and talk to your new employer if you get offered a job (this can take approximately an hour but we do this so we can support you through that part of the process and to get as much done while you are there to make it easier for you).

Metro bus services 135 and 136 run from Stand A: Pontefract Bus station every thirty minutes. You need to get off at the stop on The Circle. The Community Centre is on this road.

Bus timetables for the 135 and 136 (opens the WY Metro website)

There are also three railway stations in Pontefract – Monkhill, Tanshelf and Baghill – all within 30 minutes’ walk or ten minutes via taxi. There is also car parking available around the Centre.

If you are already registered with the Job Centre Plus or Step Up teams, please speak to your job coaches as you may be able to get some support for your transport costs or if you need to pay for childcare to be able to attend.

If you are receiving Universal Credit or other benefits, you may be able to get some support for your travel costs through Job Centre Plus. If you are not currently receiving benefits, it’s always worth making an appointment with your local Job Centre to find out if you are entitled to receive any support for these costs too.

We understand that sometimes people will have small children with them, as they do not  have any other childcare and we do not want that to stop you from attending. There are no formal childcare facilities at the job fair but there are lots of volunteers who will try and help if you need some support while you talk to one of the employers. As mentioned above, if you are receiving benefits, you may also be able to get some support to pay for childcare through Job Centre Plus, so please have a chat with your job coach in plenty of time before the event to discuss this.

Unless you are planning to have a job interview there is nothing specifically you need to prepare.  It’s certainly helpful to read all the information we provide and to join the briefing session on the 27^th June.

If you choose to have a job interview, its helpful to think about why you want to work in that job or for that employer, as you might be asked about that during the interview, as well as work you have done before or other experience you have. You can also use examples where you have helped someone or cared for someone in the past (such as family members), or projects you have done at school or college. Speaking to the employers at the job fair before you have the interview will also help you prepare.

It’s also helpful if you can bring your ID and proof of address with you to the event in case you choose to have an interview as this helps the employer if you get offered the job and will make the process a lot quicker for you. If you are worried you don’t have the correct documents, the job coaches at Job Centre Plus and the Step Up Teams can help you.

It is easy to join that session. All you need is access to a device which connects to the internet and has audio access so you can hear the session e.g. a computer or a smart phone or an iPad and access to Wi-Fi. Then you click on the link which is published on this page to access the session.

Complete Care West Yorkshire Ltd

Complete Care West Yorkshire Ltd is looking for Community Care Workers to join their award-winning team of care professionals, providing care out in the community to adults in their own homes. You will be able to find out more about their organisation and they will be offering interviews for the jobs at the job fair.

These jobs are based in Sandal, Ossett and Outwood areas and you can apply for full time and part time hours. The hourly rate of pay is £12.37- £12.67 but you can earn more at weekends and other times. You do not need any experience of working in care, but you will need to have access to a car to use for work. You will need to complete a DBS check if you are offered the job.

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

They are a specialist NHS healthcare Trust that provides inpatient and community mental health and learning disability services in West Yorkshire and Barnsley. They also provide some medium secure (forensic) services to the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber.

Please come and speak to them about their services, current vacancies or volunteering and work experience opportunities. They will also be happy to speak to you about how they can support you with an application for one of their roles.

The Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust

They run Dewsbury, Pinderfields Pontefract Hospitals and some of their employees also work in other places in the local community. Members of the Recruitment Team will be available to speak to you about the all the different jobs you can do for them.

You can also have an interview at the fair for one of their Catering Assistant jobs, which are based at Pinderfields Hospital. You will need to have a Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate to apply for this role and will need to complete a DBS check if you are offered this job. The hourly rate of pay is currently £11.45 but you can earn more at weekends and other times, and they are expecting the rate of pay to increase in the next few months.

Wakefield Cares Careers Hub – Wakefield Council Adult Social Care

The Wakefield Cares Careers Hub team will help you find out more about the jobs you can do when working in Adult Social Care in Wakefield and how to apply for them. Jobs include Care Assistant; Domestic Assistant; Community Care Workers; and Support Workers and you can do these jobs in a number of different services or teams across Wakefield either in people’s homes or in other places, such as care homes or community centres. They will also be happy to talk to you about the fantastic training opportunities they can offer in Adult Social Care too.

Wakefield Council – Step Up Team

The Step Up team provide employment and skills support free of charge to all residents of the Wakefield area. They will be on hand to provide you with general support and advice about how to get into employment, CV/applications writing, interview techniques and will help match you to possible jobs based upon the things you enjoy doing and skills and experience you may already have or want to develop. They will also be able to talk to you about other jobs for Wakefield Council, outside of Adult Social Care.

Spectrum Community Health CIC

Spectrum Community Health CIC provides quality healthcare for people in vulnerable circumstances. We work in partnership to provide primary care, substance misuse and sexual health services, in the community and in secure environments, including prisons and hospitals. As a not-for-profit social business, we are committed to addressing health inequalities and investing in the health and wellbeing of the communities they serve.

NOVA Wakefield District

Nova Wakefield District Limited is the local infrastructure charity that supports Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations working in Wakefield District. They manage the volunteer managers network for the organisations in attendance.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Yorkshire Ambulance employs over 7000 people in various locations across Yorkshire and Humber to provide emergency healthcare services and other services which include: ambulance and paramedic services; the 111 – telephone advice service; receiving and responding to 999 calls for healthcare; and providing patient transport support to help people get to and from hospital or other places where they access healthcare, when it’s not an emergency.

You will be able to speak to representatives about all the jobs and training programmes that are available, and you may be able to have an interview for a job as a Call Handler.  People working in these roles help people in many different ways – you may be the first person someone speak to when they call 999 calls or 111 service or you might help them when they are trying to organise transport to help them attend an appointment.

These roles are based in Wakefield, working different shift patterns, and are currently paid at £11.45 per hour, but you can earn more at weekends and other times, and it is expected that the rate of pay may increase in the next few months.