THREE people have already found jobs in the first three weeks of an employment scheme in Oxford’s Blackbird Leys.

But the adviser on the new Leys CDI YP2 project says too many people on the estate don’t know the basics of job hunting.

The new Leys CDI YP2 project was set up this month to battle youth unemployment on the estate and the twice-weekly drop-in sessions financed by the Big Lottery Fund have already paid off for three people.

Callum Smith, 18, from Rose Hill, used the service to get himself a job in the Cowley Unipart warehouse.

He said: “I was looking for a job for about a year-and-a-half.

“It’s just crazy out there, you can’t get a job.

“I want to work. I’m from a single parent family and I can’t help pay the bills unless I’m working.”

The project helped Mr Smith compile a relevant CV, search for jobs and apply for roles himself.

He then used the service to help him when he’d secured an interview, teaching him how to dress and prepare answers to likely questions.

He said: “I had never been taught any of that stuff before, so it was good.

“It’s not surprising that so many young people have to turn to illegal ways to make money, it’s stressful spending so much time on applications and not getting anything back.”

Adviser Craig Morbey said: “Our aim is to help as many young people as we can into further education, employment or training.

“The Big Lottery Fund paid for a trained adviser, myself, to come into the centre and help them with all aspects of job hunting.”

National figures released last week showed a record 1.2 million 16- to 24-year-olds in the UK were now out of work.

Although there were only 600 young benefit claimants in the city – the lowest figure since December 2008 – experts said they remained concerned.

Frank Nigriello, chairman of employers’ group Oxfordshire Business First, told the Oxford Mail that businesses found it hard to find people with “appropriate levels of skill and motivation”.

Mr Morbey said: “We cover things from writing CVs to covering letters and learning interview techniques.

“A lot of it is very basic things, but you would be surprised how few people know them, and how big a difference they make.

“I know when I started job hunting, I didn’t know you were supposed to customise your CV, and ended up just copying it from the internet.”

He added: “For young people, there are jobs out there, there’s no question about it.

“But the problem is that young people just don’t know how to go about finding them.

“So we’re here to support them until they do.”

The drop-in sessions run from noon until 7.30pm at the Blackbird Leys Community Centre each Monday and Thursday.