Who We Are

Careers Springboard West Berkshire offers help and advice to out-of-work managers and professionals, especially (but not exclusively) to those who aged 45 or more who have been made redundant. It is the successor to the Newbury Job Club. Today it is a member of the Thames Valley Executive Job Club Network.

Background and History

The Newbury Job Club was set up in April 2003 especially to help older professionals, managers and executives in West Berkshire who were seeking new job opportunities, and whom the Jobcentre seemed unable to help. These individuals were coming to IAG Berkshire (now NextStep) for assistance, which was under contract and government-funded to help the lower qualified. Lesley Reilley of IAG set up the Job Club with a bit of spare funding she had available and asked Peter Pearson who had been working in executive outplacement since 1990, to get it operational. In 2004, the funding ran out, but IAG kept it running for a few months before the Branshaw Foundation agreed to fund it for at least a year from September 2004.

The Branshaw Foundation assists four other Job Clubs, the two original volunteer-run clubs in Gerrards Cross and Aylesbury, one for Windsor & Maidenhead that started in March 2005 and one in Bracknell that also started September 2006. In 2005 the intention was to move the Newbury Club to be led and run by volunteers so that the Branshaw Foundation's funds, which are limited, can be stretched out and used most efficiently.

The Relaunch - September 2006

Since December 2004, plans for a volunteer-led organisation in Newbury had been taking shape. A pivotal event was a meeting of potential volunteers in March 2006. This created the core group of volunteers, which has since been consolidated by additional volunteers who have joined after seeing advertisements or reading about the Job Club in the Newbury Weekly News.

Thanks to the hard work by a core volunteer team since Easter 2006, with encouragement and advice from Isabella Kerr of the Branshaw Foundation, the Job Club was relaunched as Careers Springboard West berkshire in September 2006. We were immensely grateful for all the assistance given by Peter Pearson, who previously ran the Job Club single-handed. He has magnanimously given the new team his presentation material and handouts and has been unstinting in his generous help in making the transition of admistration systems run smoothly.

The current programme still uses much of Peter's material, but has incorporated many of the features of the well-established Careers Springboards in Gerrards Cross and Aylesbury, including several meeting features, the induction process, and their 'branding' including logo and design templates. We are very grateful to them for their support and assistance.

Interested in Helping?

The years ahead will remain challenging. Despite relatively full employment in West Berkshire, redundancies of senior professionals and executives do occur. While some may be helped by outsourcing services offered by their former employers, many will not appear in the jobless statistics and not be the priority focus for Job Centre Plus.

Helping this valuable resource in our community get back into productive work therefore needs a focussed approach - one that we at Careers Springboard West Berkshire beleive we can offer. Most of our volunteers have had large company experience, and several have themselves been made redundant in mid- or late- career. If you would like to join our team, in a speaking, administration, advisory or an organisational capacity please read the volunteers page.

This page last updated 18th August 2008

Important Notice - The information and advice given on this website or by our volunteers is given in good faith. No responsibility whatsoever shall attach to Careers Springboard West Berkshire or any person acting on its behalf for any actions taken by any person acting on this information or advice.