West business leaders have welcomed a bespoke guide and website for public sector staff moving into private employment.
The Choices Guide, which includes the website www.hays.co.uk/jobs/LEP, was launched at an event held in Bristol yesterday.
It has been compiled by the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) in conjunction with national recruitment experts Resource Solutions Group (RSG) and Hays in response to more than 54,000 public sector job losses across the South West.
More than 60 people attended the breakfast briefing at Ashton Gate, which included a presentation from MoD head of change management Marlene Morley.
Attendees at the event, which was hosted by BBC West business correspondent Dave Harvey, included representatives from HMRC, Job Centre Plus, VOSA, ACAS, BaNES Council and Nationwide.
Around 5,000 hardcopies of the guide will be distributed through public sector bodies in the region, along with 10,000 business cards which carry a QR code directing individuals to the website.
The guide aims to highlight the valuable transferable skills available in the public sector and explains how employees can effectively showcase these skills in the private sector through CVs and interviews.
It also offers advice on the choices available to them including starting up a business or freelancing.
Speakers at the launch included LEP chair Colin Skellett and Andy Robling, public services director at Hays Recruitment.
Mr Skellett said: “Jobs in the public sector are set to decline at a rapid rate over the next few years. There are, however, a great many people in the public sector who have excellent transferable skills and would excel in the private sector.
“In June 2011, we established a task and finish group which focussed on how to move from public to private sector employment. The result of this was the Choices guide. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those involved in putting the guide together including Hays and RSG. This guide is one-of-its-kind in the UK and hope it will gain national
A video link to Mark Prisk, Minister of Business and Enterprise, discussing the CHOICES guide was presented to guests and can be viewed at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQcCa0dpSis
