Recruitment world comes to life for Lauren and Olivia
The opportunity to support people into work is helping two BMet students boost their own professional skillset. Lauren Blundell and Olivia Gallardo are enjoying industry placements at Kelly Services in central Birmingham, gaining first-hand experience of matching jobseekers to their ideal roles.
As part of the recruitment agency’s project resourcing team, the 17 and 18-year-olds are becoming experts at processing job searches, candidate profiling, interview techniques and spreadsheet summaries.
“Kelly’s purpose is to enrich people’s lives by connecting them to work,” explained Natalie O’Beirnes, Head of Sourcing Operations, Project Resourcing at Kelly Services. “We’re proud of the fact that we place thousands of people into work every year. Kelly is undoubtedly a destination for top talent and that is something we wanted to share by working with BMet.”
Oliver Tuzzio of Kelly Services said: “This is the first time we’ve welcomed students to our offices and it’s proved to be an excellent way of introducing them to life in the workplace.
“The placements operate in a way that encourages Lauren and Olivia to feedback about the work they’re doing with us. By putting their experiences into perspective, they’re discovering the transferrable skills they’ll take forward and continue developing. This will be a big help to them as they progress further in their careers.
“It’s also a two-way process that gives us, as an employer, a valuable insight into how we can reach out to future candidates who may be recruited by us or our clients.
He continued: “We’re pleased to have been one of the first employers to get involved in this initiative and hope to do more with the college so we can support others.”
Lauren and Olivia’s industry placements are two out of over 105 opportunities arranged by the college to provide high quality work experience to business and creative arts students. It is a Capacity and Delivery Fund (CDF) Project from the Department for Education (DFE) and Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).
The minimum 45-day placements are delivered flexibly so that employers can give students a variety of activities to complete over a few weeks or a meaningful project to work on long-term.
Work Placement Officer, Trina Tiernan said: “These are ‘real world’ industry-specific placements that are enhancing the vocational, technical qualifications our students are gaining. Everyone taking part is really enjoying their experiences, finding it easy to link their work activities back to their studies.
“We’ve had some fantastic feedback from the employers involved. The flexible delivery makes it easier for them to come on board and outline a suitable programme of work that is both achievable and beneficial to their business.
“This is just the beginning for us. We’re aiming to create many more opportunities like this over the coming year.”
Lauren from Tamworth said: “The placement’s shown me what an ‘actual job’ is. When I’m given work to do, I know why I’m doing it and how it will help the team and our clients.
“I know I’ll be able to use what I’ve learned wherever I go on to work after I’ve finished my course.”
Olivia from Sutton Coldfield added: “Everyone’s been really welcoming. I’ve asked people what they did and what they liked about their jobs. It’s a great way to get ideas about the kind of career I might have in the future.
“There are always new things to learn so I feel proud of what I’m achieving.”
ENDS