SKILLS Trainees are best of the rest


A Leicestershire school leaver and a clutch of graduates have secured places on the 2017 trainee programme at the East Midlands office of business and financial advisory firm Grant Thornton UK LLP. The six trainees will all now begin


their new careers in the firm’s audit and tax services teams while studying for a range of professional accountancy qualifications. Nationally, a record-breaking


12,000 school leavers and graduates applied for one of the 300 places available this year on Grant Thornton’s widely-recognised trainee programme. Owen Butler, Senior Business


Partner at Grant Thornton, is responsible for people experience in the East Midlands office. He said: “Credit must be given to our six trainees for beating off such stiff competition for places on our programme this year. Each of them impressed our recruiters and senior team with their enthusiasm for the firm and ambition for the future. “All trainees are an important


element of our investment in the growth plans for our East Midlands business, alongside a number of senior hires in the past few months.


The challenges of recruitment


Mid-sized businesses in Derbyshire are facing major challenges in recruiting the right skills, according to research by accounts and advisors BDO LLP. The findings follow the


Derbyshire Growth Barometer report, where discussions with local mid-sized firms in Derbyshire showed that businesses are suffering from a lack of suitable skills. Gareth Singleton, BDO


The six new trainee recruits with Owen Butler, Senior Partner at Grant Thornton


‘Credit must be given to our six trainees for beating off such stiff competition’


Additionally, we have a strong track record for ‘growing our own’, with a high percentage of our advisors and senior team originally joining the firm as trainees themselves.” Grant Thornton was recently


ranked top employer in the Social Mobility index, a joint initiative between the Social Mobility Foundation and the Social Mobility Commission in partnership with the City of London Corporation.


Partner, said: “We are calling for a New Economy in which the Government champions apprenticeships to enhance the availability of skills, by changing current apprenticeship plans so apprentices are given equal weighting to university entrants, Government targets reflect results and standards are comparable across the UK.” Peter Marples, Group CEO


of 3aaa, which featured in the growth barometer report, said: “The advent of the new levy for employers brings the focus of skills development to the fore. The apprenticeship levy and new apprenticeship standards is a game changer for many businesses.”


Cliff College provides education and training with a particular focus on mission and evangelism. The College is situated on the outskirts of the village of Calver in the Peak District National Park.


Historically, Cliff was a Methodist Lay Training college. Today our student body is both lay and ordained and from a range of denominational backgrounds.


A conference centre is also situated in the grounds of the College.


We are experienced in accommodating groups of varying sizes and with differing needs and we would welcome the opportunity to discuss with you all that we can offer in order to make your conference a success.


Friendly and professional staff are ready to help you from your initial enquiry through to the end of your conference. We look forward to welcoming you to our facilities. We can host both residential and day conferences in our glorious surroundings.


To discuss your requirements please call: 01246 584200 or 01246 584205


Email: conferences@cliffcollege.ac.uk


For further details visit: www.cliffcollege.ac.uk/conferences/home/


business network October 2017 49


APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING


Linden has been in training and quality, health & safety, and food management auditing since 1993. We specialise in delivering Apprenticeship Training to meet your specific business needs. Our experienced and friendly team of trainers work with you to develop training that is flexible and relevant.


We are all about building relationships with our clients and passionate about delivering high quality training.


Apprenticeship training includes but is not limited to:


• Food Manufacturing Excellence with Food Safety • Food Industry Services with Food Safety • Hospitality & Catering with Food Hygiene • Cleaning Operations with Manual Handling • Warehouse & Storage with Manual Handling/Forklift Truck • Horticulture & Arboriculture with First Aid • Business & Professional Administration • Customer Service • Team Leading & Management


To explore these funded opportunities further please contact us on Tel: 0800 2980632 or email info@lindenmanagement.org.uk


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