Local recruitment firm GPW Recruitment has been helping to give students at St Helens College a lesson in employability. The students from the Department of IT are the next generation of IT professionals and are receiving all the teaching and skills they need to secure jobs in their chosen field.
However, in a recession, simply having the technical knowledge and ability often isn’t enough. With that in mind St Helens College invited Managing Director of GPW Recruitment, Mark Parish, to the college to deliver presentations to the students about other factors, besides qualifications, that can affect their employability.
Mark spoke to the students about the importance of key skills such as communication, interpersonal and organisational skills as well as key attributes like reliability, motivation and willingness to learn. The students demonstrated great enthusiasm and took part in a group discussion about what their own key skills and attributes might be and how they can use them when applying for a job.
One student commented,
“It’s good to hear directly from employers exactly what kind of qualities they are looking for.”
Another said,
“I sorted out my CV after the session and used it for my next job application. I got an interview, whereas before no-one ever got back to me.”
Mark Parish commented,
“It was great to be invited along to the college to share some of my experiences as an employer. The students were very attentive and demonstrated a keen interest in developing their employability skills. I hope now they recognise the fantastic qualities they have and how they can use them, along with their qualifications, to pursue successful careers in IT.”
The presentations were part of a module called Communication and Employability Skills for IT. The module is designed to teach students what will be required from them other than the technical skills, such as how to communicate an IT issue to someone who has little or no IT training, an important yet often overlooked part of the job.
Course Tutor Rob Barker commented,
“Personally I would like to add my thanks to GPW Recruitment for supporting the department and helping us to get the message across to learners that it’s not just IT skills that are required by employers, but the generic qualities that enable employees to function efficiently and effectively in the workplace.”
If you want to find out more information about GPW Recruitment visit www.gpw.uk.com or for further information about studying at St Helens College www.sthelens.ac.uk