HUNDREDS of people attended car manufacturer Nissan's first recruitment day in living memory at its Sunderland plant in the hope of securing one of the 200 available jobs.
The factory is preparing for the busiest period in its 26-year history after winning deals to manufacture four new models - the electric Leaf, a new generation Qashqai, a new car based on the Invitation concept, and a new hatchback
The new staff are needed in areas including engineering, maintenance and logistics.
The news comes as the latest official unemployment figures showed the North-East recorded another rise in the jobless count, which was up 8,000 in the last quarter to 11.3 per cent of the workforce.
The figures, which mean 145,000 people of working age in the region are unemployed, bucked the national trend, which saw a fall of 51,000.
Nissan says recent model announcements on Wearside will create 625 jobs at the plant, with a further 2,400 in the supply chain. The plant will manufacture the electric LEAF, a new generation Qashqai, a new car based on the 'Invitation' concept, and a new hatchback.
Recruitment for production line roles will begin in early 2013, and once complete will take the workforce to a record 6,225.
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