Advertising Feature
Published on behalf of the Local Skills Improvement Plan.
GETTING the right people to work in your business is not easy. Research suggests that more than three-quarters of UK companies are struggling with recruitment. Finding new employees with the right skills can be tough as can training up existing staff to meet new challenges.
At Further Education colleges such as Moulton and Northampton, that is what we are for.
The two of us have joined forces with three others (Barnfield, The Bedford College Group and Milton Keynes) to try to spread the word to those companies that do not realise just how much we can offer them. The group, known as Colleges of the South East Midlands, is committed to delivering skills and boosting business, under the Local Skills Improvement Plan. LSIPs are backed by the Department for Education and supported by Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce.
As colleges, we currently work with more than 8,500 different businesses across the South East Midlands. Our challenge is to reach those companies that are unaware of the skills support on offer.
The big point is that we do not only tell you the training options you can have; we also ask you what it is you need and then tailor the training accordingly. For example, ensuring construction students are up to date with modern methods required by industry relating to renewable energy.
The government’s Skills for Jobs White Paper calls for “a seamless and strong relationship between further education and industry” and talks about the “inspiring examples of successful collaboration between industry and providers” that its researchers found.
To this end, our job as colleges is to make sure our curriculum matches the ambitions and needs of Northamptonshire’s employers. We want to engage with more businesses so we can be certain that the training we are providing reflects current and future skills needs.
A common misconception is that a business will be too small to take advantage of the training opportunities available. In reality, we build successful partnerships with employers ranging from giant multinationals to SMEs and microbusinesses.
Strong student engagement with employers is key. What those people taking up training opportunities with us need is a clear line of sight from what they are learning to a future career. We listen carefully to what employers are telling us in terms of the knowledge, skills and behaviours they’re looking for, including things along the lines of:
- Communication.
- Organisation.
- Teamwork/Collaboration.
- Digital literacy.
- Planning.
- Problem solving.
- Creativity.
- Leadership.
- Time management.
- Resilience.
Collaborative engagement can bring mutual benefits. Taking part in events such as our careers fairs opens the eyes of potential employees to the attractions of a career in your sector or business, while also enriching the student experience.
We are grateful to those employers who go one step further, giving inspirational talks about what they do, and many find these can turn into networking opportunities, fostering relationships between young people and employers.
We have hugely talented staff with significant industry experience who will provide people for your business with those vital real-world skills you need, whether your work is land-based, digital, health or construction. Whatever the sector, we can help.
Like any other industry, further education has its own jargon and sometimes the terms we use about BTECs, apprenticeships or T Levels can be confusing to people who do not use them every day. If you speak to us, we will demystify it all and make sure to explain what is available in clear, straightforward language.
Neil Oram, from construction and civil engineering specialist Carmac, says: “As a company we have seen the benefits of bringing through apprentices and students on work placements, moulding them into the employees you need with the skills you rely on. We have had success with that model and we wanted to give something back.
“It is important we get a new generation into construction. It is an extremely varied industry with a wide range of different job roles and it is changing all the time with new technologies coming on board.
“We are giving Northampton College students the chance to see at first hand the way we work and they will be given a flavour of all the different job roles we have on site, from surveying and engineering to health and safety. It has been very positive so far and the students say they are enjoying the opportunity to apply some of their learning in a real-world environment.”
The training we can offer you can take many different forms, depending on your needs. It might be that you would be best served by taking on an apprentice. That individual will split their time between college and your place of work, learning on the job. Throughout their training, we will be in constant contact with you, making sure that they are progressing as they should and learning what they need.
Alternatively, rather than taking on a new member of your team, you may have an existing employee who you think would fill a vacant role if only they could increase their range of skills. Between us, we can construct a training programme for them, benefiting your business but also giving them a good reason to stay with you – thus helping with retention.
It is worth saying that people often assume that college is exclusively for 16- to 18-year-olds. However, many of our learners are adults with significant work experience, studying right up to degree level.
Find out more about how we can help with your training needs. Visit deliveringskills.co.uk.