A new online service featuring work experience opportunities on local construction sites has been developed by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).

The service has been developed as part of a drive to link candidates with employers and will feature on CITB's one-stop shop careers site Go Construct.

With more than 2.5 million unique users visiting the site since its launch in September 2015, CITB is keen to help more construction employers tap into this reservoir of potential recruits.

Construction companies are also being urged to add their apprenticeships vacancies to the three GB Governments' national apprenticeships services so they can be offered to potential applicants using Go Construct.

Go Construct directs aspiring apprentices to find apprenticeships on the English, Scottish and Welsh Governments' websites, but not all vacancies are posted there, with some employers using informal recruitment techniques such as word of mouth.

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Sarah Beale, CITB Chief Executive, said: "Go Construct was built in response to industry telling us that an information portal for careers was needed. We're now acting on further feedback from employers, to offer the millions of people who have visited the site the ability to see more and more vacancies through the three Governments' national apprenticeships services.

"We'll also be developing a feature for work experience opportunities too, to increase the supply of potential industry recruits to employers. We're determined to build on our high-quality information portal with a full signposting service to link construction employers with the workers they need."

In January nearly 2,000 people clicked through from Go Construct to external vacancies sites such as the National Apprenticeship Service, up from 1,504 in January last year. CITB welcomes this progress and is committed to seeing it rise much further.

Go Construct was developed after feedback from more than 400 construction employers, and guides visitors through the different trades, detailing likely salaries and qualifications required and providing help, support and information to employers, careers advisors to young people and their parents.

The website is one part of a framework of initiatives to attract new recruits and apprentices to industry, through schemes such as the Construction Skills Fund; to support employers to take them on, including SMEs, with increased grant funding; and to help learners gain the vital work experience they need to enter employment in industry with pilots like Brickwork Academy.

(MH/CM)