We’ve seen LEGO being used in realms well outside simple play, from building scientific equipment to being used to rally charitable donations. Now, it’s finding use in the UK, particularly in the west of England, to draw public attention to a growing problem: skill gap between recruits and available work.
Certain jobs net a particular set and level of skills gained from education or training, and the sad thing is, 70% of businesses in western England – almost three-fourths – have problems hiring employees to fill vacancies because the labor pool tends to lack in skilled workers. Bristol is such a case.
Skill West, a business advice outfit, has decided to launch a public campaign in the city to increase public awareness on skills gap that results in large numbers of job vacancies due to under and non-qualification. They’re using LEGO minifigures of people in various professions as part of the “Find Your New Recruit” encouragement drive.
In line with this, Skills West is scattering work-themed LEGO minifigures in famous landmarks of Bristol. Any worker or business owner who finds these LEGO minifigures can take them back to their workplaces, snap a photo of the minifigure inside their offices, and post the pictures on Twitter under hash-tag #pledgeyoursupport.
Selfies of the “Find Your New Recruit” campaign minifigures will be entered into an online raffle, with winning employees/employers to be treated to an “experience day” courtesy of Skills West and their partners. The organization head Nicky Williams states that west England is in a low-unemployment rate period similar to 1975; he says that while good, in the long run that situation “intensifies the problems local businesses are having when it comes to finding skilled people to join their team.”
Experiences being discussed for “Find Your New Recruit” include trade apprenticing, on-the-job-training for students and career fairs. Williams hopes the campaign gets local businesses to offer these activities which Skills West will then match to individual jobseekers or employment organizations.
Source: Bristol Live