By Tom Pickford, Product Manager, GM Business Growth Hub

There are currently over 6,000 job vacancies across the Greater Manchester area. The North West from April to June 2024 recorded the highest fall in Unemployment rate in UK with the rate falling 1.4% these statistics show the job market in Greater Manchester is still buoyant with GM businesses looking to expand and grow. 

But with these job vacancies and more people in work comes the challenge to find talent and the right people for your organisation. However, in Greater Manchester we are in a fortunate position of having a number of programmes around recruitment and skills that are able to support your organisation finding new staff

Destination GM Skills Map 

As Greater Manchester’s online skills directory, GM Skills Map is a ground breaking online resource empowering individuals and businesses from across Greater Manchester to make informed decisions about their skills development. Greater Manchester’s individuals and businesses can access over 300 courses and programmes that are available fully funded to businesses and are available through the GM Business Growth Hubs new GM Skills Map: 

Skills Bootcamps: 

Skills Bootcamps is a way that employers can take on new members of staff with the  knowledge that the individuals they are interviewing have been through a set training programme of a minimum of 60hours in a topic area prior to interview. The employer will understand the topics that the individuals have covered prior to the interview. 

Topics include:

• Early Years
• Events
• Cyber / Web Dev
• Data
• Engineering

This gives the employer an understanding of what capability the individual will have when joining an organisation, so they know what support to put in place during an induction period. 

Best of all – this comes at no cost to the employers to interview staff going through Skills Bootcamps. 

This is a fantastic way to increase your talent pool with pre-trained individuals, but of course there is no obligation to take on the staff interviewed if they are not the right fit. 

Search for Skills Bootcamps now using the GM Skills Map: GM Skills Map - Skills Bootcamps

Shared Prosperity Funded Training:  

Do you want to attract more job seekers to your vacancies?

Utilise shared prosperity funded training to support staff in an induction period to; 

1. Increase the benefits that you can offer in a job advert, increasing the chances of more job seekers applying for your vacancies
2. Realise the benefits of the training by giving the staff more responsibilities following the training

Best of all – this comes at no cost to the employee’s or employers and is completely fully funded, however there is limited time to access these training courses which are available until March 2025. 

Search Health and Social Care funded through the Shared Prosperity Fund on GM Skills Map: UK SPF - Health and Social Care

Search Leadership Masterclasses funded through the Shared Prosperity Fund on GM Skills Map: UK SPF - Leadership Masterclasses

Find your potential and discover the GM Skills Map 

With access to over 1700 training courses including fully funded, part funded and commercial options, there’s skills options available for everyone at every stage of their business journey. 

Key Features 

• Over 1700 training courses
• In-demand course subjects
• Over 450 Apprenticeships Programmes
• Flexible course delivery options
• Simple site navigation

Start Now 

To learn more about other funded skills programmes and how they can benefit you or your business, visit www.gmskillsmap.co.uk today.

UKSPF - About UK Shared Prosperity Fund
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills