More than 1,400 local job seekers attended the Rushden Lakes Jobs & Skills Fair at the end of last month.
The event, hosted in partnership with Jobcentre Plus on May 26 at Rushden’s Pemberton Centre, brought job seekers, employers, support and training services together under one roof, with the aim of helping local people get into work.
A total of 15 employers took part in the event, including;
Marks & Spencer, 
Primark, Next, JD Sports, Paperchase and Schuh. Local employers MCE Insurance and Allied Healthcare were also present and recruiting.
In addition to the 500 current vacancies on offer, the Jobs & Skills Fair provided practical help, advice and workshops for those looking to develop their employability skills.
This is the first recruitment and skills event held at Rushden Lakes, which will open later this summer, and will create around 1,500 new jobs in total.
Faheem Qureshi, Head of Employment Generation at The Crown Estate, which owns Rushden Lakes, said: “We’re delighted with the response to the Jobs & Skills Fair at Rushden. Working with our local partners at Jobcentre Plus this event has generated a huge amount of interest, and the retailers and businesses have been impressed with the wealth of talent on offer.”
The Rushden Lakes Jobs & Skills Fair is part of the broader initiative from The Crown Estate to support employment in central London and around the UK.
In 2009, The Crown Estate launched Recruit London to help unemployed Londoners get jobs with employers in the West End. Over the last eight years, Recruit London has helped more than 1,500 people get into work in London.
Similar initiatives have since also been established in Leicester, Worcester and Exeter.
Find out more about Recruit Regional here