A Job matching service has launched today for the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The COVID-19 Job Support website will match live vacancies with job seekers who have registered for alerts. Information and support advice for employers, employees and jobseekers will also be available.

The City Region Deal partnership had been developing a job matching website, but fast-tracked the plans in response to the pandemic.

East Lothian Cllr Norman Hampshire, Chair of the City Region Deal’s Joint Committee, said: “We’re committed to using our collective strengths and resources to help the region recover and respond to the huge challenge that COVID-19 has created. The job support website marks the first of what I hope will be more initiatives that our City Region Deal network can quickly mobilise to help employees and job-seekers in the coming months.”

There are immediate job opportunities across the City Region in essential and sudden-growth sectors, including the NHS, supermarkets, home deliveries, take-away food and beverages.

Steve Grimmond, Chief Executive of Fife Council and Chair of the City Region Deal’s Skills and Employability group, commented: “Thanks to the agility and dedication of all our partners, I’m delighted we were able to fast-track the job matching service to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the City Region’s workforce. I hope the online portal helps meet the urgent needs of both employers and at-risk employees, as well as existing job-seekers.”

The re-purposed site – developed free of charge by Hanlon Software Solutions – will also help capture the scale of the jobs challenge through data collection from those who register.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity Michael Matheson said:

“City Region Deals are designed to bring people together to work in partnership and this is a great example of the benefits that can come from those new relationships.

“This initiative will create new connections helping link those seeking work to employers in our vital services ensuring they have the resources required.

“I would like to thank those involved for their quick action and initiative. We would encourage partners in all city regions to look at what they can do to support their local economy and communities through these challenging times.”

The website is available at: www.c19jobs.org

For further information, email: c19jobs@capitalcitypartnership.org