Seevic

Seevic College yesterday hosted a business event that celebrated the vital role that Colleges play in helping businesses to grow, as we climb out of recession, by providing high quality and cost effective apprenticeship programmes.

The event was held at local venue, The Salvation Army, in Hadleigh, and was attended by a range of local businesses, as well as the National Apprenticeship Service.

The event was part of a national ‘Training for Business Growth’ campaign, the final event as part of Colleges Week 2010, to demonstrate the value that College apprenticeship training provides to UK companies.

Welcoming guests to the event, Seevic College Principal and Chief Executive, Sarah Wright, said: "We want to add value to local businesses and be able to show clear impact to the businesses’ bottom line. We want to be accessible and intend to be indispensible. With the rapid increase in the number of employers who want to work with us and the range of apprenticeships we offer, we are able to be truly responsive to local business needs".

Project Skills Solutions, a Benfleet based business that employs two Seevic apprentices, spoke on behalf of businesses to explain the benefits of using apprentices. Peter Ely, CEO from Project Skills Solutions commented: “Seevic supported my business through the whole process of identifying our exact need and employing the right candidates, saving us valuable time. We have been able to train and mould the apprentices into our business and they have proven to be eager to learn and able to absorb every challenge. Their ability to integrate easily into the workforce and be involved with major projects has brought efficiencies by releasing senior personnel of tasks and increasing sales output.”

Project Skills Solutions Business and Administration Apprentice, Hannah Proctor, said: “I absolutely love it. I was chucked in at the deep end but I like the challenge. As a small business its like being part of a family. I have been able to take what I learn at College into work and equally what I’m learning at work I can take back into the classroom. So many more young people could benefit from doing an apprenticeship.”

Guest speaker, Peter Wognum, Programme Manager at Low Carbon Business, talked about how businesses can lower their carbon footprint and use the cost and efficiency savings to fund the employment of an apprentice: “For your business to grow you need to employ the right people, and apprentices are the best people to employ. Being fresh out of the education system, they already have a discipline about learning. The cost of hiring an apprentice is substantially lower than employing somebody out of the job market, but there is still a small cost involved. There are simple things a business can do to make efficiency savings and reduce their carbon footprint, knocking 10 – 20% off bottom line operating costs. These are significant savings that can more than cover the cost of employing an apprentice.”

This event was co-ordinated by Seevic College’s Business Solutions team, which is greatly expanding the range of apprenticeships and working with a variety of local employers. For more information about our apprenticeship programmes and Employer Engagement opportunities, please visit our apprenticeships page.

Visit our Colleges Week webpage to find out more about Colleges Week and how Seevic College are getting involved.