A FURNITURE firm's new showroom will be staffed entirely by out-of-work youngsters in a bid to give the county's unemployed a shot at a sales career.
Ultima Interiors, based in Chelmsford, is expanding its kitchen, bathroom and bedroom business by opening a new showroom at Braintree Garden Centre and aims to recruit most of the staff from the pool of unemployed 16 to 24-year-olds.
Laura Barrett, 22, of Chelmsford Road, Shenfield, was unemployed for nine months before landing a new job as a marketing associate at Ultima, after applying online.
"It's brilliant here, I'm enjoying it, but it's very hard to find a job in the current climate," she said.
"I was applying for anything and everything online – retail jobs in food stores, phone shops, everything. I have friends who are struggling to get experience and I know people that aren't getting anywhere. But if people are willing to work hard, employers should give them a chance, regardless of what they've done in the past."
Before joining Ultima three weeks ago, Laura was volunteering in Shenfield shops to get more experience.
With ten people based in the marketing department, Ultima aims to have four in their Braintree office, but will eventually look to have up to 20 working in the marketing department, either calling potential customers, distributing or going door-to-door.
Geoff Reynolds, 22, of Bruce Grove, Wickford, started working at Ultima on Monday after being unemployed for two weeks. He told the Chronicle: "A few of my friends are finding it quite difficult depending on what they're looking for. There are a few companies like Ultima that take on young people, but for other industries it's sometimes harder to get into.
"It is getting better for people at the moment, the job market is better than it was. I'm enjoying it here."
The grand opening of the showroom based in the Wyevale Garden Centre in Braintree was on Friday and was attended by Sue Wilson, the chairman of Braintree District Council, who cut the ribbon.
Managing director Reid MacLeod said: "We want to expand in Essex, we want to provide high-quality home improvements to the people of Essex and most importantly for the area.
"We want to help increase the amount of employed people too, which we will do as we grow as a company.
"We're not looking for a vast amount of experience; we're looking for young talent and to build them up to be sales people with our in-house training."