Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business issue 32 | Page 11

The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 11
“The DurhamWorks project helps
unemployed 16-24 years old
living in County Durham into jobs,
training or education “
UTC South Durham case study
DurhamWorks
– tailored
recruitment and
training for your
business
Have you considered the benefits of
hiring young people?
It can lead to improvements in
everything from performance and
productivity to growth, innovation and
morale.
The DurhamWorks project helps
unemployed 16-24 years old living in
County Durham into jobs, training or
education and hundreds of businesses
have benefited from their support to
recruit young people.
DurhamWorks’ six business advisors
work across all areas of County Durham
offering a free, tailored package of
support including help to manage the
recruitment process, pre-screening
candidates, HR advice, in-work support
and staff training.
Bespoke training can be arranged for
DurhamWorks young people to ensure
they have the skills required to thrive in
your business.
There is also scope for employers to
access funding to support with the costs
of taking on a young person, including
uniforms, equipment and training.
UTC South Durham needed extra
business administration support to help
them grow. As an education provider,
employing an apprentice seemed a logical
choice and DurhamWorks helped them to
source suitable candidates.
UTC South Durham opened in Newton
Aycliffe in September 2016 as a University
Technical College preparing 14-19-year-olds
for a career in the advanced manufacturing
sector.
As a busy, growing college, UTC were
looking to employ a Business Administrator
and felt it made sense to employ an
apprentice to work in their educational
environment.
Staff at the college had positive
experiences of working with apprentices
in the past, so when UTC’s Business
Engagement Manager, Catherine, met
DurhamWorks Business Advisor, Lynne, at
a networking event they were keen to get
involved.
Lynne selected a shortlist of appropriate
candidates who met the job specification
written by UTC, including successful
candidate, Naomi, and also helped them to
apply for funding which they used to pay
some of her salary.
Jean Bell, UTC business manager, said:
“The process was easy, very quick and
efficient. We’d definitely use DurhamWorks
again.
“Naomi’s very mature and takes every
opportunity to learn. She quickly became
a much valued and respected member of
our team. Employing apprentices is a great
opportunity to build a team who are ideally
trained to suit your business and it’s really
rewarding to be able to support home-
grown talent. We’re hoping to recruit some
more specialist roles in a similar way.”
Naomi has created extra capacity in the
college’s admin team and being of an age
with the students, has a great relationship
with both them and the other staff.
Existing staff are not only supporting
Naomi in her role, but learning from her too.
Naomi’s been able to teach the team more
about social media and they’re finding it
really useful to be able to see things from a
young person’s point of view.
If you’re interested in employing a
young person to help your business grow
and learn, contact us to find out how
DurhamWorks can help.
For more information visit www.durhamworks.info/employers or call today on 03000 262 930.