EMPLOYERS are being urged to support the Dorset Echo Jobs Fair.

The Weymouth Pavilion event, on Thursday, June 21, is designed to bring people and jobs together.

It will serve as a networking hub for jobseekers and local firms.

Jobseekers will be given a chance to sharpen their skills and will gain advice on CVs, interview skills and body language as well as how to write a good application and how to make the best first impression.

There is limited space available in the Ocean Room for exhibitors.

Dorset Echo advertising manager Tracy Hayden said: “Following on from three successful jobs fairs in Bournemouth we are confident that local employers will support a similar event in Weymouth. “For job seekers the fair is a great opportunity to meet employers face to face, present a CV and chat about what they can offer. “Employers can use the day to promote their company and the vacancies that they have and find out about candidates’ skills and then arrange interviews for a future date.”

Anna-Maria Geare, president of the Weymouth and Portland Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber encouraged any event that helped pair up businesses and employees.

She said: “The jobs fair is something as a chamber that we’d like to be involved in. From a chamber point of view, our members are all running businesses.

“They need to be able to have a good quality of employee who can hit the ground running.”

Mrs Geare said the event would be crucial for jobseekers who had been away from education for some time.

“Young people seem to have quite a lot of support within the school network.

“Many people in their 20s and 30s are going through a change of life and looking for a new career.

“There are also long-term unemployed people or self-employed people going back into employment “It will be a chance for them to learn how to sell themselves and make them stand out from the rest.

“Many people with experience don’t know how to sell themselves.”

Latest figures show that the unemployment rate in the UK is at 2.65 million and the rate of youth unemployment is 22.2 per cent. Locally, the figure has gone up by one per cent in Weymouth and Portland and by 0.3 per cent in West Dorset.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that in Weymouth and Portland there were 1,479 people claiming jobseeker’s allowance and 879 claiming it in West Dorset.

More than 22 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds were unemployed, the figures revealed.

Mrs Geare said the chamber hoped that employment opportunities in the area will increase.

Call the Dorset Echo recruitment team on 01305 830835 to book a stand.