FEATURE
Young blood - from left , Job Ready ’ s digital marketing apprentice Spencer McCabe and trainee consultants Caitlen Spender , Tom Cairns and Steph Evans .
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON PICTURE : CHRIS BOOTH
READY FOR THE WORKPLACE
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recruitment and training firm has been growing its business and creating opportunities - with help from new apprentices and the government ’ s Kickstart scheme .
Darlington-based Job Ready is a firm believer in the fresh outlook and energy apprentices and Kickstart employees can bring to a business .
And as it emerges , re-energised , from the pandemic lull , it now has several of its own .
Caitlen Spender , Steph Evans and Spencer McCabe have all joined the company , which is based at the Faverdale Industrial Estate .
Caitlen and Steph , after successful business administration and customer service apprenticeships respectively , have been taken on full-time , although Spencer ’ s apprenticeship still has a year to go .
And the Kickstart scheme , where the government pays an employee ’ s wage for 25 hours a week for six months , has also helped bring new blood into the business .
Tom Cairns , who started through Kickstart , now has a permanent full-time contract , while Angus Murray has been helping develop the Job Ready website and social media offering .
It ’ s a forward-thinking outlook for the firm , which was set up by old Carmel School friends Dominic Vizzard and Elliott McCabe .
And training director Dominic says employing apprentices makes perfect sense for them and other firms .
He said : “ We ’ ve taken on apprentices and invested in them in terms of our time and resources .
“ We believe in what we preach in terms of training and bringing new blood and young people into a business and developing them .
“ They ’ re all doing really well , they ’ re learning every day .”
Specialising in the telecoms , construction , energy , industrial and digital sectors , Job Ready was created to help plug the skills shortage gap within these industries .
It started trading in 2019 but , of course , Covid was just around the corner .
And while it was a tough period , it allowed Dominic and Elliott to forge a plan for future growth .
Elliott said : “ Just before Covid we were growing well – we had our best month in February 2020 . Then in October 2020 , we came back into the office and it ’ s been very encouraging ever since .
“ Month by month , we ’ re now breaking records in terms of turnover .”
Dominic , 42 , oversees the training side of the business while Elliott , 41 , specialises in recruitment – and the chemistry works .
Dominic said : “ We ’ re old schoolmates so we can challenge and test each other .
“ We ’ ve built the business through hard work , really . The Covid period was difficult for everyone , but we kept going .
“ We ’ re now a registered training provider with NCFE accreditation . We ’ re accredited to deliver digital skills and promotion for business , warehousing and logistics and specialised company inductions , but we ’ re also trying to move into the training market and deliver more
Ready to recruit – Job Ready ’ s directors Elliott McCabe ( left ) and Dominic Vizzard .
courses ourselves , working with our partners .”
But what ’ s next for Job Ready ? It will certainly involve Kickstart and apprentices , with three or four more due to be taken on early next year .
And Dominic and Elliott are both keen to recommend other firms follow suit .
Elliott said : “ When I started out , I got an apprenticeship with Bells Stores which stood me in good stead , and that ’ s stayed with me .
“ The whole apprenticeship thing is something we ’ ve really bought into . We like to empower trainees and apprentices to go and learn the trade - that ’ s why our guys have been successful .
“ It ’ s also why we ’ re looking to go out there and bring some new blood in so they can learn from the Caitlens , the Stephs and the Spencers , who have been through it .”
Dominic added : “ Our passion is to invest our time , resource , expertise and energy into new recruits , with a view to them ending up in permanent positions at Job Ready .
“ We want other businesses to see our model and realise it really works .”
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