A North Wales entrepreneur is urging SMEs keen to expand to look at the grants available to recruit fresh talent available in the area after finding his perfect recruit through the GO Wales programme.
Tom Strapps, MD of Ruthin-based Tengo Media, has recently added to his 12-strong workforce by recruiting through the project that aims to boost graduate employment.
Tengo Media’s new hire, undergraduate Stephen Williams from Rhewl near Ruthin, is studying for a BSc IT and Computing through the Open University during his Work Placement.
Tom said: “With many small and medium sized businesses struggling to expand, this can be a fantastic way to take on a new team member. There is a lot of help out there for businesses who want to take on students and graduates and obviously this gives the recruit the opportunity to get real-life work skills.”
Stephen had secured a full-time degree at the University of Liverpool, but wanted the opportunity to work during his studies. With graduate unemployment at its highest in over a decade, the teenager believes he has taken the safest option.
“University would have meant a £30,000 debt at the end of it, and who knows how long it would take to get my first employment?” Stephen said. “The idea of learning on the job while getting my degree seemed the best of both worlds.”
Funding through GO Wales’ Work Placement scheme means that Tengo Media can recoup some of the salary costs, making recruitment a more cost-effective option for the expanding firm, which counts the National Trust and Age Concern among its clients.
Sam Forde, who delivers the GO Wales project for North East Wales, said Tengo Media was a clear example of how the programme was being used to help businesses expand their capacity.
“In the last two years we’ve placed 298 students and graduates into local business across Flintshire, Denbighshire and Wrexham, of which 72 per cent have been taken on permanently,” she said. “The national, pan-Wales, average is 65 per cent, so the employers in North East Wales are clearly finding, like Tengo Media, there is a wealth of talent among graduate recruits.”
The GO Wales programme has been extended for another three years to help tackle the issue of graduate unemployment. Businesses in Wales can access funding towards graduate recruitment. For those businesses who have graduates GO Wales also offers funding to up skill the graduate workforce through the Graduate Training and Development Fund.
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