Major jobs fair to build on success of Eurovision recruitment drive

ACC Liverpool

•  Special ‘Beyond Eurovision – One Step Further’ recruitment fair to be held at ACC Liverpool
• Aims to build on Song Contest success and broaden recruitment for wider Liverpool City Region economy
• 30 employers and up to 1,000 jobseekers expected
• Includes Wirral firms recruiting for July’s Open golf championship in Hoylake

A major jobs fair is to be held aimed at building on the success of Eurovision and driving recruitment for the city region’s thriving hospitality and leisure sector.

Around 30 organisations are expected to attend the event in Liverpool – including firms recruiting for next month’s Open Golf Championship in Hoylake.

The jobs fair at ACC Liverpool aims to use the momentum of a Eurovision campaign which saw more than 3,000 people attend recruitment events across the city region – with almost 400 jobs in the visitor and hospitality sector offered on the day and many more after the events.

The special ‘Beyond Eurovision – One Step Further’ event will broaden recruitment to other parts of the city region economy. It is expected to attract up to 1,000 job seekers.

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Executive Director for Investment and Delivery, Aileen Jones, said:

“Eurovision was a huge boost for the Liverpool City Region, its people and its visitor economy, and the recruitment fairs we held were extremely popular and very successful. This latest event aims to build on that momentum, widening the focus from the visitor economy to other sectors, including health, social care, security, logistics and retail.”

A series of careers roadshows were held across the city region in the run-up to last month’s Eurovision Song Contest – including mini recruitment events, a campaign to raise awareness of the hospitality and tourism economy and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) pop-up jobcentres in Liverpool ONE and across the region.

Work is now underway to gauge the economic effect of the Song Contest which saw an estimated half a million extra visitors to the city region and a TV audience of 162 million viewers. A report is expected later this year.

Initial feedback from the recruitment campaign events showed that 3,287 jobseekers, 173 employers and 52 skills support providers attended the events.

More than 6,000 vacancies were advertised with 394 on-the-day job offers and 3,216 second interviews.

The latest event – ‘Beyond Eurovision – One Step Further’ – sees The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority join forces again with the DWP, Liverpool City Council and Growth Platform to showcase current vacancies and long-term careers in the city region’s £5bn visitor economy.

It will include Wirral-based employers looking to fill roles at and supporting the golf tournament, but also brings together the NHS, health and social care, the Army and firms working in logistics, security and retail.

The fair takes place at ACC Liverpool on Thursday 6 July from 10.30am to 3pm.

Last year, Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram, unveiled a £4.5m, two-year strategy with a raft of urgent interventions and longer-term measures to help the city region’s hospitality and tourism industry return to full health after it was devastated by the pandemic.

In October 2022, Be More – a new, all-in-one training and careers portal, complete with an AI-powered app – was launched to connect residents with employment and opportunities.

Janet Nuzum, Visitor Economy Sector Manager at Growth Platform – Liverpool City Region Growth Company said:

“It is important we continue to build on the amazing success we had delivering recruitment fairs across the city region under the banner of Eurovision. These events showed us what an appetite there is for people looking for roles in hospitality and the wider visitor economy. That is why the ‘Eurovision and Beyond’ recruitment fair goes beyond the hospitality sector and will showcase job opportunities across a range of sectors, including the visitor economy, health, retail, security, education and logistics, to name but a few.”

Nicki O’Connor, NW Strategic Partnership Lead for the DWP, added:

“Working with our partners across the City Region we want to build on the success of Eurovision and support those who either need a first step into work or managed to gain some experience during the event and can look into wider sectors. The support we can provide can also assist those returning to work in later life or to help them consider their transferable skills for other sectors.”