When Plymouth-based IT support specialists Acronyms began searching for apprentices, they had a clear vision of what they were looking for – a long-term, regular pipeline of top quality candidates. Acronyms, which offers extensive support to companies across various sectors, had a regular requirement for apprentices to work on their support desk operation. Upon partnering with City College Plymouth, they discovered a pool of talented individuals and were “amazed” by the quality of candidates. As a result, the 35-member Acronyms team is about to welcome an IT Solutions Technician apprentice provided by the College, and is looking forward to being able to continually add depth to its workforce by taking on more apprentices in the future.
Frazer Lloyd-Davies, Marketing Manager at Acronyms, said the company had been “completely impressed and reassured” by the College’s ability to consistently find a steady stream of people to fulfil their requirements. “They’re simply the experts – the care and attention they put into the whole process is first class,” he said.
Acronyms had a clearly defined idea of the person they wanted, and the skills they needed to have. Working closely with the College, they were able to form a partnership to develop an Apprenticeship which would give the person the precise skills that were needed.
“We were allocated a dedicated College account manager, who sat down with us straight away and we were able to work with her to develop an Apprenticeship Standard which was exactly what we wanted,” Frazer added.
Working collaboratively, the College took away the hassle of administration and saved the company time and money by vetting applications before arriving at the final five, top quality candidates. They were a broad mix of ages, and each one was screened by the College against criteria provided by Acronyms to ensure everyone who went through to the interview stage had the qualities and skills required.
“To be honest,” said Acronyms’ Service Desk Manager, Kenny Pester, “we could have taken any of the five, the quality of the individuals was that good.” Kenny said the “fantastic” reputation of the College, coupled with world-class facilities, left them enthusiastic and excited to develop the Apprenticeship.
“The course content is crucial, of course, but it’s ultimately about the people. Our first impression of working with the College was outstanding – we realised they weren’t just educators. They were passionate about creating something relevant for us, ensuring it was done right, and genuinely committed to our success.”
The Acronyms team took the opportunity to look around the College campus and were blown away by what they saw. Teaching areas, technology and equipment, catering facilities and the learning environment were “just brilliant”.
Frazer added: “As a growing business, we were in a position where we needed to build a bigger process, and the College was able to advise on this and implement it.
As an SME, Acronyms felt the College was completely receptive to what they wanted to achieve, the process was seamless, and from the initial meeting to interviewing the first candidate took just three weeks. “We felt listened to and understood, which was hugely important,” said Frazer.
The company is keen to continue to raise the profile of IT as a career – so much so, they will be visiting the College to talk to IT students about their industry, and are considering supporting a T Level student with their work experience placement.
Their apprentice will start this month, spending four days a week at Acronyms and one at the College. Their role will see them building and imaging laptops, and helping customers on the service desk.
Image caption from left to right: Acronyms’ Service Desk Manager Kenny Pester, their new IT Solutions Technician apprentice Zak and Frazer Lloyd-Davies, Marketing Manager at Acronyms
