A recent initiative by nine companies from Mid Ulster, the North West and North Antrim to join forces to address local IT skills shortages has proved such a success that they are now calling on nine more companies to come on board for the next phase of the programme.
The businesses, all of whom invest heavily in IT, collaborated with Northern Regional College to launch Career Encode, an innovative Earn As You Learn Higher Level Apprenticeship in Computing for school leavers.
Over 85 school leavers and individuals considering a career change applied and due to the high calibre of applicants a total of 10 apprenticeships have been offered.
The nine participating companies are Specialist Joinery Group, FP McCann, Bloc Blinds, CDE Global, Mallon Technology, Acorn IT Solutions, Spatialest, Randox and SDC Trailers.
Explaining why more companies should embrace approaches of this nature Camilla Long, director of Bespoke Communications and an independent facilitator for the nine employers said: “Career Encode will alleviate your technology staffing problems. It will allow you to grow your own skilled staff in a tight labour market, so you can develop employees with the skillset that you need.
“It will also further build your employer brand, so you can differentiate yourself and attract the very best candidates.”