As part of Rio Tinto Alcan’s closure Zenith People have been involved in assisting those workers who will lose their jobs to find new roles. The Zenith Team have attended numerous open days over the last few months and last week took part in the Rio Tinto Smelter Showcase Day.

Members of the Zenith Team were given the chance to see what the Rio Tinto Alcan site at Lynemouth is like and learned about their manufacturing and lean techniques. They were able to see first hand the kind of equipment and vehicles Alcan employees have operated and the tasks they have performed.

David Jackson, Recruitment Consultant at Zenith People commented ‘It was a really interesting day and we’re grateful for Rio Tinto for giving us the opportunity to see the site and the kind of work their employees have been doing. We now have a better idea of how workers for the company have used their skills and what their roles have entailed. Hopefully this will stand us in better stead when we come to help them find new roles.’

Zenith People were pleased to be exhibiting at the latest NE Expo event on April 18th at Newcastle Racecourse.

There was a terrific turnout with around 500 businesses exhibiting and over 1,500 attendees.

As part of our exhibition and to promote the Payroll element of our service, we ran a competition in which entrants were asked to guess the annual salary bill for a selection of well known organisations including the BBC, Manchester City FC and the Royal Family.

We had a fantastic response and multiple entrants guessed the right answer so we drew at random from these winners to see who won the prize of a £100 voucher for Malmaison.

The entrants who guessed right were:

Nicola Armstrong – ITPS

Christina Wood – NE BIC

Alexis Towell – Entrust

Sarah Beltion – Entrust

Sarah Duncan – Newcastle Racecourse

Tony Brown – Angel PPM

Lynn Sanderson – Dandy Events

And the winner of the £100 voucher was:

Sarah Duncan – Newcastle Racecourse

Congratulations to Sarah and thanks to everyone who entered the competition.

Remember, if you’re looking for recruitment, payoll or training services, think Zenith People.

A recruitment firm based in the region has had a double boost as it appoints a new member of staff to its training division and posts a healthy turnover of £2.75million.

South Tyneside based Zenith People, which traditionally recruits for the Engineering and Manufacturing sectors, has built on its successes of 2010 with a healthy improvement in turnover in what remains a challenging market.

Angela Anderson, Managing Director commented: “Although we’re still operating in a subdued market place there is room for success for dynamic companies who offer a quality and professional service. We’ve taken the initiative and diversified our offering; we’re now a turnkey employment service incorporating Recruitment, Training and Payroll”.

As part of this process, Zenith has recently added Lisa Waller as Partnership Development Manager to the team. Lisa, who has a wealth of experience in training and employer engagement, joins the company from NAC Group.

Lisa said: “I’m excited to be a part of Zenith’s expansion and look forward to helping grow the training element of our service. We’ve already had great success in delivering training and recruitment campaigns for Bridon Ropes and Faerch Plast UK which will create around 200 jobs.

There is certainly an appetite for this type of offering and I can’t wait to see what the rest of 2012 brings”.

Angela continued: “We’re delighted to welcome Lisa to the team and we’re confident we now have the expertise in place to grow what we believe is a unique and cost-effective solution for our Clients.  Our aim is always to get people into jobs and we’re now in a position to use our training packages effectively to help that happen.”

UP to 150 jobs are to be created after a disused factory was brought back to life.

Danish company Faerch Plast has pledged to recruit and invest in a local workforce, as it prepares its new site close to Durham to start production later this year.

The firm, which makes plastic packaging for the food industry, moved into the former Veriplast site at Dragonville Industrial Estate in early November.

It has started recruiting, with the aim of taking on between 100 and 150 permanent staff during the next three to four years.

Senior plant manager Anders T Jensen said: “We’re excited to be here and the project is moving ahead as planned with expected start-up beginning of April.

“Focus has been on upgrading and refurbishment of the factory and we have made significant investments in the building and machinery.

“Among other things, we are commissioning a new state-of-the-art high capacity extrusion line.

“In April, we will have the first Thermoform machines installed.

“Some of the skills we require are not readily available. We’re looking to invest in training and apprenticeships for certain areas including setters, operators, warehouse staff and extruder operators, but we are also seeking candidates with experience in these areas.”

Faerch Plast has enlisted the support of South Tyneside-based recruitment business Zenith People to find suitable staff.

Zenith, which operates in the engineering and manufacturing sectors, has been helping Faerch put together a management team for the Durham site.

General manager Alan Metcalfe said: “It’s great that the region can attract large companies such as Faerch Plast, and we’re delighted to be working with them over the course of the next few years.

“They’re renowned for being a fantastic employer so we’re lucky to have them in the North East.”