Rotary Club supports job seekers with virtual workshops

By Carmen Anderson

The Rotary Club of Gibraltar will today begin providing free online workshops for job seekers left suddenly unemployed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

They will be providing a series of seven free workshops via Zoom, hosted by a variety of business professionals and life coaches who have volunteered their time to support this initiative.

These workshops will run weekly until May 14.

Participants will learn useful skills to help them gain confidence in seeking employment.

The range of support from these workshops runs from help with writing CVs, to honing interview skills, to providing advice on starting your own business and more.

This Rotary Work Club will be available to those who have recently lost their jobs or are facing an uncertain future at their place of work - a growing audience that is usually neglected.

Fully aware of the fact that Gibraltar’s BEAT Covid measures have so far provided a useful cushion to employees but that these cannot last indefinitely, the Rotary Club of Gibraltar has combined with the Rotary clubs in the London Boroughs of Bexley and in nearby Dartford in Kent, to offer these new – and importantly, free - online learning opportunities.

Marian Hale, Immediate Past President of the Rotary Club of Gibraltar told The Chronicle: “We envisage helping people who maybe haven’t had a job for a long time and are quite devastated by the fact that they are going to be out of work. Some people might not have had to search for a job for years; we hope to give them their confidence back, especially in a forum such as Zoom where there will be other people in a similar scenario.”

Marian added: “There are a surprising number of people who have never used online facilities and therefore would be quite limited in this day and age in how they find out about jobs and get themselves into the job market.”

The use of social media is crucial to seeking out new job opportunities and the workshops will be helping participants to ensure that they present themselves at their best to prospective employers, with sessions that include acing your LinkedIn Profile and advice on job searching.

Covid-19 has been devastating to the local community and globally.

Not only have lives been lost, but the pandemic has also had a drastic impact on local businesses.
Closed restaurants, empty shops, an eerie silence at the cruise terminal, thousands of small firms left reeling with no customers able to buy their services, and while jokes about ‘covid hair’ or hustles on the phone to have items delivered to our doorsteps, some tills rang shut for the final time and the jobs simply disappeared.

For those who suddenly lose their jobs, life can become frightening, not just because of financial uncertainty, but also because of loss of self-esteem, and these days, there is the constant fear of infection and what that might do to loved ones.

This is inevitably damaging to mental health.

Marian Hale emphasised that she hopes to see people succeed in finding jobs or starting a business, although she also pointed out that the Rotary Club cannot look for jobs for candidates; they are instead offering practical guidance and support: “We are a service to community”.

This initiative offers a practical response to one of the easily disregarded aspects of the impact of the pandemic.

To book a place in the weekly workshops email: rwc.north@gmail.com