The Recruit Programme

31 August 2010

“The Recruit” is a name given to a highly innovative and unique learning project developed by Inverclyde Council and is the first of its kind in Scotland. The project is based on a similar premise to the popular television series “The Apprentice” but focuses on targeting 5th and 6th year students, competing for the chance to win a top job of £18k (and possibly other posts as well). Aside from providing some students with a fantastic career opportunity the project aimed to enhance the employment prospects of all participants by helping them to develop the skills necessary to succeed in business.

The Recruit has been running in Inverclyde since 2007 funded by Determined to Succeed. The programme has won multiple awards for innovation, is one of the highest profile events in Inverclyde’s calendar and is extremely well regarded by schools, businesses and the young people themselves.

Since 2007, 24 young people have secured positions within the private and public sectors paying salaries up to £18k. These posts have ranged from Trainee Accountant, Trainee Youth Development Worker, IT Sales, Administration post to Service Centre Advisors, Marketing Executive and Mortgage underwriters. This year, at their black tie glittering awards ceremony attended by 200,  8 young people secured jobs with Everything Everywhere (T-Mobile)2, RBS 3, Milne Craig  1 and Inverclyde Council 2.  The programme has won a National CoSLA Silver Award and was shortlisted as a finalist in The Herald Society Awards.

The Recruit programme has also been successfully launched in Renfrewshire with local employment / job offers sourced through the Renfrewshire Workforce Plus business team. Renfrewshire hosted their own black tie celebration dinner on Thursday 19th August at Paisley Town Hall where this years winners were announced.

For further information on The Recruit, please contact:
Robert Lamb, Enterprise Development Officer, Inverclyde Council on Robert.Lamb@inverclyde.gov.uk, or
Bill Anderson, Workforce Plus Manager, Renfrewshire Council on bill.anderson@renfrewshire.gov.uk.