A York job club which specialises in helping jobless older people back to work is booming.

Jim Macauley, chairman of Target Third Age, says the service has been inundated with inquiries from people eager to learn skills allowing them to return to the workplace.

Now its courses are in such demand that it is recruiting more than 20 people a week.

Mr Macauley said it wasn't just elderly and middle-aged people at the older end of the jobs market it was helping back into the workplace.

He said: "It wouldn't be right to say that this course dealt with elderly people because people are being made redundant younger all the time and need to update their skills to return to work.

"We help people as young as 35, which isn't old, but can cause severe difficulties for people looking for a job."

Since Target Third Age set up in Piccadilly 18 months ago it has grown and grown - until now more than 80 people are registered with the organisation.

Numbers of employees approaching the course for staff have also increased, resulting in success stories such as the figures for the past fortnight - 12 out of 20 members found employment.

Target Third Age offers a chance for what Mr Macauley calls "people with previous experience" to pick up the skills needed to re-enter work.

Courses teach computer skills, including using databases, spreadsheets and wordprocessors.

Help is on hand to draw up professional CVs and to develop interview skills.

The benefits of the service are already being reaped with people who had previously spent months on fruitless searches getting jobs.

Mr Macauley said: "These days if you don't have computer skills then you are dead in the water.

" I can't think of any job now where you don't need them.

"They are beneficial, if not essential, to even the most manual job.

"We have a lot of different talents on our books, from solicitors to bricklayers. We've even got an airline pilot.

"These skills are too valuable to allow to be thrown on the scrap heap."

Target Third Age has earned financial help from the National Lottery and the Joseph Rowntree Fund.

In February it received £78,000 European funding.

But Mr Macauley said even more was needed to deal with the demand for the service.

"If we had another 10 computers we could widen the amount of services we can offer," he said.

"And it would be helpful to be able to get on the Internet so that people can search for jobs or put their CVs on it."

For further information about Target Third Age telephone (01904) 671171.

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