EMPLOYEES at the newly-opened Light Cinema have been recruited through a pioneering scheme to get people back into work.

Of the 30 new employees, 19 have been taken on through the Team Bolton Partnership — a collaboration of work and skills providers who work together to help get local people into employment.

Bolton Council, Bolton College and Job Centre Plus, part of Team Bolton, worked closely with the Light Cinema, in the Market Place Shopping Centre, as part of the recruitment process.

An open day for unemployed people was arranged followed by a three-day pre-employment training course. Following the course, 24 candidates were offered interviews and 19 were then offered jobs at the cinema. The majority of the employees are customer service assistants, but two have progressed to supervisor roles, and other members of staff have been promoted to projectionist and barista roles.

Recruit Ainsley Battel, aged 24, of Astley Bridge, had been “in and out of jobs and never really felt settled anywhere” but after three months and hearing the news that his girlfriend was pregnant he said he “had to get his act together”. He added: “The open day and training allowed my confidence to build, getting to know what my employer expected from me and them to know what I was like before we started work. Although the course wasn’t job specific it offered transferable skills and knowledge that could and would be needed in employment.”

Mr Battel has now been promoted to supervisor and said the opportunity had “been a blessing”. He added: “If it wasn’t for this opportunity I can honestly say I wouldn’t know where my life would be right now.”

All 30 of the new recruits, apart from the cinema manager, have been recruited from the local jobs market.

Cllr Ebrahim Adia, Bolton Council’s executive cabinet member for regeneration, said: “We are committed to improving the economic prospects for all in the borough. Team Bolton is an example of how partnership working across different organisations can help improve the skills and employment opportunities of our local residents. Local people who were out of work are now employed in a fantastic new cinema in the heart of the newly redeveloped Market Place and so it is a win-win situation for everyone.”

The Team Bolton partnership, established in 2013, works with more than 400 local employers to help to improve local people’s skills and secure a job for them. Other partners include Bolton at Home, the University of Bolton, the Work-Based Learning Provider Network and Welfare to Work Providers.