TRANSPORTING GRADUATES INTO THE WORLD OF WORK
A Derby-based engineering company is accessing some of the best graduates in the Midlands thanks to a new graduate recruitment service.
P Ducker Systems is a specialist SME (small and medium enterprise), working on integrating systems for the transportation industry. Established in 1988, the company has a wealth of expertise in the implementation of Transportation Infrastructure projects for tunnels and road networks and Metro, rail and airport operators.
It offers stand-alone control systems to fully integrated solutions covering lighting, ventilation, traffic control and monitoring including CCTV, PA, telephones, radio, fire and security sub-systems.
Many engineering companies tend to be identified as an SME, and employ less than 50 people. But that does not mean graduate career opportunities are limited; the sector employs around 800,000 qualified engineers in the UK.
As a family-owned company with 42 employees, P Ducker Systems is committed to the training and progression of its workforce, in particular the development of local talent. The recruitment of well-qualified graduates is especially important to ensure a regular stream of knowledge into the business and this process must be handled efficiently so that applicants are of a consistently high calibre.
Office co-ordinator at P Ducker Systems, Kirsty Gratton, said: “More often than not, SMEs do not have the resources to dedicate someone to manage the recruitment process and sort through dozens of applications; especially if the vacancy has been advertised in a newspaper or general website, many candidates are often unsuitable. The HotProspects service saves lots of time by handling this side for us and only forwarding details of the most appropriate candidates.”
The company takes on a number of graduates each year. Kirsty added: “Like other SMEs in the area, we really benefit from being close to universities that can provide a ready pool of enthusiastic and well qualified individuals.
“The East Midlands business landscape is heavily populated by SMEs operating in many different sectors and this helps to generate a dynamic business environment, offering both graduates and employers plenty of choice.”
Asim Malik and David Humphreys graduated in 2006 and 2007 and joined P Ducker Systems earlier this year. Both graduated from the University of Nottingham – Asim with a B.Eng in Electronics and Communications Engineering and David with a M.Eng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
They were recruited via the specialist graduate recruitment service HotProspects, which was created by East Midlands Development Agency to tackle the low graduate retention rates in the region and retain the skill, expertise and knowledge that graduates can bring to businesses. Asim and David were two of over 10,000 graduates and 1,363 businesses registered on its website, which has dealt with almost 12,000 applications in its 18 months of operation since launch.
Designed to show graduates the range of career options available in East Midlands enterprises, the service also gives businesses access to some of the best graduates in the region – sifting through hundreds of CVs to ensure only the most relevant are passed to prospective employers.
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