When Cranleigh-resident Paul Lynch faced redundancy as a pharmaceutical company marketing director earlier this year, he immediately started to plan for his new job search.

At the time, Paul realised his CV was out of date and in need of rejuvenation, along with his interview skills.

He quickly realised that finding a new job these days requires savvy with social media platforms, including LinkedIn.

While there is a certain amount of excitement associated with looking for new opportunities, it can also be a pretty lonely and, at times, depressing experience.

This all got Paul thinking; what if he could get together with other people in the same predicament and share experiences to pass on hints and tips, making this process more manageable and as short as possible?

Paul initially created a group on nextdoor.com and was surprised by the very positive response from all corners of our community.

He has received offers from three retired people with vast experience in human resources and career development to help run some practical workshops on CV compilation, interview skills and modern networking techniques.

Paul and his Cranleigh Job Club collaborators have also received funding from the Waverly Borough Council to hire a super meeting room at Rowleys Community centre, where they plan to meet every two weeks beginning on 4th January 2022.

The idea of the Cranleigh-based Jobs Club is to provide its members with a friendly and comfortable environment to achieve the following;

1 – Confidence building – activities to help improve a customer’s self-esteem.

2 – Skills analysis – identifying transferable skills and corresponding opportunities.

3 – Job counselling – setting employment goals, identifying barriers, and developing a plan to overcome them. For a One-Stop, this could be creating an Individual Employment Plan.

4 – Job Readiness Skills – knowing and understanding the basics, such as completing applications or CV and cover letter writing.

5 – Job Search Skills – identifying all of the online and offline tools needed for an effective job search, including techniques for obtaining an interview.

6 – Interviewing Skills – practice on how to present yourself effectively to an employer.

7 – Group Support System – giving and getting feedback, sharing experiences.

Job Clubs already exist in the other Waverley towns of Haslemere, Godalming and Farnham, leaving a gap in the eastern part of the borough.

Cranleigh Job Club could serve as many as 20,000 people in the area, with approximately 600 people searching for employment based on a 3% unemployment rate in the area.

When Cranleigh Job Club is launched in the New Year, we look forward to supporting it here at Destination Cranleigh.