Manchester Airport is to offer Chinse culture and language training, delivered by tutors from Stockport College at the Airport Academy, to help local unemployed into jobs.
Unemployed people in Greater Manchester are being invited to sign-up for a new training course to learn basic phrases in Mandarin about Chinese culture – aimed at helping them secure work at Manchester Airport.
The new initiative will see students given lessons on Chinese customs and cultures along with basic Mandarin phrases with an emphasis on customer service – uniquely delivered with a Mancunian influence and the friendliness Northerners are famous for.
Simple sentences, such as “Welcome to Manchester, are you alright?”; “how can I help” and “happy New Year”, will all feature in the course will be delivered by tutors from Stockport College at Manchester Airport, facilitated in partnership with the Workers Education Association (WEA) and the Manchester Chinese Centre.
Course Tutor, Zhiliang Logan, said:
“This is something a little different, so we hope it will help people to stand out from the crowd and become that little bit more attractive to potential employers. China is my homeland and Mandarin is my native language, but being married to an Englishman and having lived in the North for many years, I hope to bring a good knowledge of both cultures.
“Northerners are known for being the friendliest people in the country and because being welcome and having authenticity is important in Chinese culture, we will reflect this in our teachings – giving a friendly Northern twist to international customer service and even how to say some famous Manchester phrases in Chinese.”
The Airport Academy aims to help unemployed people to get jobs in the travel trade, with training provided by tutors from Stockport College designed around skills needed for roles within an airport environment.
One of the first projects of its kind in the world, the initiative has helped almost 200 out-of-work people in Greater Manchester into employment since it was launched by Manchester Airport in 2012 – including roles across the retail sector, but also via the Academy’s links with airlines and agents for the more traditional roles of cabin crew and baggage handling.
Delivered by Stockport College, participants on the two-week ’employability’ course will also gain a customer service qualification and be given help with their CVs and presentation skills, with tutors hoping that the majority of the ‘graduates’ will be able to find a job at the airport.
Manchester Airport recently saw the launch of direct flights to China with Cathay Pacific’s new direct Hong Kong service.
Investment at Airport City:
And, following investment by Beijing Construction Engineering Group, Manchester’s £800 million Airport City development has also attracted strong interest from the Far East – including inteerest from businesses in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen looking to internationalise into Europe using Airport City, following a series of roadshows.
Wendy Sinfield, Community Relations Manager at Manchester Airport, said:
“Building on the success the Airport Academy has already had in setting local people on the path of employment, we are really keen to grow our student numbers and get people excited about the jobs that we think we will have here in the future.
“With our new China flights and Airport City, we expect there will be a real uptake from retailers on site – and already we are working in with partners such as World Duty Free, for example, around giving guaranteed interviews for all of the people who come on the course.”
The inaugural course will run from 19 January 2015 and anyone over the age of 19 can apply for a place through their local job centre, providing they live in the region and have been unemployed for at least a day.
The course will take place at the Airport Academy training suite located next to Manchester Airport ground transport interchange, with rail, bus and Metrolink services from across the region.
To find out more or to apply for a place, see www.airportacademy.co or contact the Stockport College Airport Academy Delivery Team on 0161.489.4505 / 3907