FURNITURE maker Shane Clarke got a new job four hours after visiting a “giant employment dating service” in Oxford.

And yesterday he met the Government’s Employment Minister Chris Grayling to explain how pleased he was.

Mr Grayling visited A4e, the Oxford-based provider of the Government’s new Work Programme. The programme was launched in June to help the long-term unemployed claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance get back to work.

Staff at A4e, based in Oxpens Road, help get people back into work by whatever means they think best, whether that includes help with CVs, interview techniques or finding the right career path.

Father-of-two Mr Clarke, 38, a furniture maker from Bicester, told Mr Grayling that he had been referred to the programme after being unemployed for more than a year.

He said: “About three weeks ago I came to A4e for my first interview and then I came back yesterday for a second interview about where I would like to work.

“Four hours later I had a job, and I felt slightly emotional after the interview.

“I start work as a sales assistant with A Touch of Pine in Bicester on Saturday and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Mr Grayling said he was “impressed” with what he had heard from jobseekers and described the Work Programme as a “giant employment dating service”.

He added: “If you have good links with employers locally it is much easier to match individuals to vacancies.

“A4e is one of 18 Work Programme providers and is one of the pioneers – it’s the second largest in the country.

“A4e can earn £4,000 for getting an adult jobseeker who has been unemployed for a year back into employment, but they only get paid fully after that person has been in work for 18 months.”

Mum-of-four Penny Cann, 35, from Charlbury, got a job as a carer in July, two weeks after her first visit to A4e.

She said: “I now work for a private firm which carries out home visits for the elderly in the Witney and Carterton areas.

“I had been claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance for a year and advisers at A4e helped me to target the right kind of employer, get my CV up to date and realise my potential.”

Jobseekers aged over 25 are referred to the Work Programme after 12 months unemployment, while those under 25 are referred after nine months.

Mohammed Khalil, 38, has worked as an adviser for A4e for the past seven months. He moved from Sheffield to Rose Hill in Oxford for the job after being unemployed for about eight months.

He said: “Sometimes you have to move to find work. I can relate well to our customers because I have been on both sides of the fence.”

Paul Dingle, A4e’s area leader for the Thames Valley, said the firm employed 3,000 staff worldwide, 130 in the Thames Valley area and 18 in the Oxford office.

He declined to say how many people A4e in Oxford had found Jobs for since June, claiming it was “commercially sensitive”.

The £5bn Work Programme was launched by the Government with the aim of supporting two and a half million people over the next five years.

It is the biggest single payment-by-results employment programme ever introduced and replaces much of the previous back-to-work support with a programme built around the needs of individual jobseekers.