Demolition News launches demolition-jobs.co.uk to help demo workers back into employment
www.demolitionnews.com and the National Federation of Demolition Contractors have today officially launched demolition-jobs.co.uk, a FREE website designed to allow newly-redundant and long-term unemployed demolition workers to advertise their skills and qualifications to prospective employers.
As the worldwide economic crisis deepens, demolition workers have started to feel the effects with an increasing number of temporary worker lay-offs and permanent staff redundancies.
Against this background, www.demolitionnews.com and the National Federation of Demolition Contractors have joined forces to launch www.demolition-jobs.co.uk, a recruitment website with a difference. “Traditional recruitment websites charge employers to advertise jobs to potential candidates but we wanted to take a different, more altruistic approach,” says founder Mark Anthony. “We have effectively turned the recruitment process on its head to provide the demolition industry’s unemployed workers with a FREE medium through which to display their skills, experience and qualifications to prospective employers.”
Mark Anthony reports that the concept of demolition-jobs.co.uk was driven by the fallout from the current recession and by some wise words from a demolition industry veteran; the late Sidney Hunt Snr. “Sidney was one of the most influential figures the UK demolition industry has ever produced. He once described his industry peers as ‘hard bastards, but with a heart’,” he explains. “I have witnessed this first-hand over the years and have seen the NFDC raise countless thousands of pounds for charitable causes. Even in the midst of recession, it is an industry that is unparalleled in its willingness and eagerness to help its own. That really was the inspiration behind demolition-jobs.co.uk.”
NFDC chief executive Howard Button, another driving force behind demolition-jobs.co.uk, says that the time is right for a different approach. “There is no doubt that the UK demolition industry is on the brink of an unprecedented recession,” he says. “Through the NFDC and the National Demolition Training Group, we have invested heavily in the people that work within this sector. With our backing of demolition-jobs.co.uk, it is our intention to invest in people that used to work and still want to work in this industry and to safeguard valuable demolition jobs by helping people stay within this vital industry.”
Although the site is intended for use purely by UK employees and employers and, therefore, utilises many UK specific terms and qualifications, Mark Anthony is hopeful that other countries and regions will follow the UK’s lead. “The site has been designed to be easy to translate and replicate,” Mark Anthony concludes. “If any other country or trade Federation would like to replicate this, we can help them to set this up quickly and cost-effectively.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: www.demolition-jobs.co.uk is the brainchild of Demolition & Dismantling editor Mark Anthony and is funded jointly by the National Federation of Demolition Contractors and Demolition Publications. It is a not-for-profit organisation established to provide unemployed demolition workers with the ability to advertise their availability to prospective employers free-of-charge.
