The Knowledge Exchange Wales (KEW) network arranged Recruiting Excellence: economical ways to grow your business with graduates, to help businesses find out about the different schemes available to help them solve recruitment issues, or to tackle specific projects within the company.

The KEW event speakers covered all bases – Bin Chen, a Swansea University alumnus , spoke about his graduate role in the award winning Knowledge Transfer Partnership between the University and Laing O’Rourke; Andrew Downie, a local SME owner, spoke about how graduates have made a difference in his business; and Paul Jones from Corus Colors, an international business with over 40 years experience in the development and manufacture of pre-finished steels, discussed Corus’s ongoing work with Swansea University and it’s graduates.

Andrew Downie (pictured below), whose web development company, NetBop Technologies, is based in Swansea, said:

SME speaker: Andrew Downie urges businesses to give graduates a chance.

“As an alumnus of Swansea University, I chose to stay in the area and set up my business here in Swansea because it is a great city and there is a lot to do here.

“As the business became more established, recruiting staff was inevitable.  We tried recruitment companies, the job centre, and newspaper advertising, but quickly seemed to find that many of the people interviewed, and in some cases hired, were reluctant to learn new skills and adapt to new ways of thinking.

“Working with GO Wales and ITWales at Swansea University, NetBop was able to recruit graduates of all ages that were keen to learn, experienced and had a passion to develop and impress.  I see it as no coincidence that at present NetBop has six employees, who at some stage have all been graduates of Swansea University – we can’t give a better recommendation of the graduate skills and experience than that!

“Many graduates don’t get given a chance by small employers as they don’t have experience – my advice would be to give these people a chance, and see if they can make a difference to your business in the way they have to ours.”  

Networkers: The event paved the way for some valuable talks in the networking session.

Ceri Jones, Deputy Director at the Department of Research and Innovation at Swansea University and the Director of Knowledge Exchange Wales, headed the event.  He said:

“Graduates are the lifeblood of the knowledge economy.  At Swansea University we produce around 3000 graduates a year, and 60% of these go on to work in graduate jobs within six months of leaving the University.

“There are numerous schemes that businesses can take advantage of when looking to recruit graduate level talent – such as GO Wales, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, ITWales, Access to Masters and Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships, to name a few. 

“Today’s event has shown that there are viable options available to suit any business – from SMEs to multi national companies.”

Following the presentations, an experienced discussion panel, made up of Andrew Downie, Paul Jones, Paula Williams from GO Wales, David Notley from Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, and Dr Steve Hardy from the School of Engineering at Swansea University - who has much university-industry collaboration experience, were invited to the stage to receive questions and explain more about the schemes available to businesses.

Panel people: David Knotley, of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships; Andrew Downie, NetBop Technologies; Paula Williams, GO Wales; Paul Jones, Corus Colors; and Dr Steve Hardy, Swansea University’s School of Engineering, discuss the different graduate placement schemes available to business.

Feedback from businesses at the event was extremely positive, with the delegates appreciating the to-the-point nature of the talks, the valuable information available from representatives of the schemes, and networking opportunities.

For further information visit www.kewales.com or contact Rachel Williams on r.williams@swansea.ac.uk