"Oldham is entering a confident new chapter" - two major events to drive career opportunities in the borough

Oldham Council is putting jobs and skills at the top of its agenda this Thursday by running two linked events on the same day. The morning's Oldham Works Summit at the civic centre will unveil the borough's five-year Employment and Skills Plan, while the afternoon's Future Ready Careers Experience at Queen Elizabeth Hall will give hundreds of teenagers a taste of work in everything from green construction to digital forensics.

Employers, college heads, training providers and voluntary groups have been invited to the summit to agree how they will turn the plan into real vacancies. The council says the document commits all signatories to 'good quality' work, adult upskilling and making sure growth reaches every neighbourhood, but the full targets and budgets will only be released once the cabinet approves the paper.

Across town, more than 650 pupils from Years 9 to 11 will move between hands-on stalls run by companies active in Oldham. Sectors represented include engineering, health and social care, creative industries, finance and the expanding local cyber sector that grew out of the government's CyberFirst scheme. For the first time, the careers fair is also open to home-educated teenagers, young people with special educational needs and those currently outside education or training.

Schools have been allocated timed slots between 10 am and 3 pm, and the final hour is a free drop-in for anyone aged 13 to 18 who wants to quiz employers without a teacher in tow. Councillor Mohon Ali, who holds the education and skills portfolio, said the twin events mark 'a confident new chapter' for the borough, though he stopped short of naming the number of apprenticeships or training places that will be created this year.