AS the Black Country battles through the recession a company created 20 years ago to help redundant Sheffield steelworkers has opened offices in Dudley to support casualties of the credit crunch.

A4e - Action 4 employment - has found permanent jobs for 17 clients since bringing the Government’s Flexible New Deal programme to the borough in October.

One of its success stories is 56-year-old Gordon Marsh who after a hopeless and demoralising 14-month search for work had his dignity restored just three weeks after meeting A4e employment coaches.

The former glassworker, from Stourbridge, whose four children were grown up and mortgage paid, had been willing to take any work - even minimum wage or part-time - but the JobCentre failed to help him find anything.

He had been a successful and well-respected glassworker, but when the industry collapsed and he was made redundant in 2006, he joined another company where he was retraining as a welder, only to be made redundant again just weeks before qualifying.

He managed to find another job as a warehouse operative but was hit again the recession struck and he lost his job.

“I’d worked all my life and not to be able to find a job was terrible - I felt devastated,” said Gordon, who also suffered the sudden death of his wife Davina followed by his brother a few days later during the dark months of unemployment.

But after speaking with coaches Matthew White and Marine Rawson, Gordon regained his confidence and was offered the opportunity to join A4e as concierge at the company’s Trident House offices in Wolverhampton Street.

“It’s great for me. I’ve always liked to work and you lose all sense of direction when you’re out of work. Matthew and Marine were really, really good and gave me some hope. I kept coming and they did me a CV and built my confidence back up. I’m as happy as Larry,” he said, adding: “Now I see other people coming here who are just like I was and I try to tell them that there’s hope and a chink of light at the end of the tunnel.”

A4a is contracted by the Department of Work and Pensions to help long-term unemployed people back into work and amongst many programmes that it is involved with, the Flexible New Deal is about finding sustainable employment, re-integrating people into their community and empowering them to ultimately come off benefits.

Job Centre Plus helps unemployed people look for a job and once they have been signing on for 12 months, these people are transferred to A4e.

Branch manager Jenny Smith said: “We work on a one-to-one basis with each customer, identifying their goals and, if existing, their barrier to go to work. These barriers can be anything from childcare, debt issues, substances abuses, housing problems etc.

“Once these individuals are ready to work, they work exclusively with an assigned employment coach who will focus on preparing them for work, helping them with their CV, job search, interview techniques and so on.”

The company’s involvement continues into the work place with an in-work mentor who follows them for the first few months to ensure the employer and new employee are happy about the situation and performance.