SMART SKILLS Meet Skills Demands
SMART Partner, City College Plymouth, have been providing bespoke training through business engagement. The college delivered two different formats for training local businesses in October. The first was to support business members of the Plym Chamber. The Chamber required training to be incorporated into their weekly meet-up. A face-to-face package for ‘Building a Digital Presence using LinkedIn’ was delivered in a workshop type format over two Fridays. Participants included Mortgage Advisers, HR Consultants, Travel Guides, IT Consultants and Accountants; the training provided relevant examples for each of their fields. The bespoke training package received positive feedback from participants; Alan Witt from Not Just Travel said “My workshop aims were to achieve a better understanding of LinkedIn, how to create successful posts, and attract followers to help gain new business. The free workshop from SMART SKILLS helped me achieve all of those aims.”
The second training demand was for a team at Plymouth City Council who requested employability training. Their employees were still working from home as part of COVID-19 restrictions. A remote package was delivered over a period of three weeks to over 50 staff. The package consisted of tailored sessions offering face-to-face support which were then bolstered by online resources to support the training with self-directed learning.
Our Partner, South Devon College, are also responding to the future training needs of businesses in the composites industry. Composite Projects visited South Devon College to discuss the SMART SKILLS composites offer. Paul Singer, Business and Qualification Development Coordinator at the college, reviewed their current and future training needs. They identified three key areas of training required, two of which were already covered by the existing composites workshops. The third training need identified, focused on the whole composites production process, from design to tool making, mould and final production. Through detailed discussion they were pleased to be able to scope the content for a series of three new one-day workshops than can be delivered over consecutive weeks that would meet the needs of Composite Projects.
It’s an exciting time for SMART SKILLS and our SMART Partners are looking forward to supporting many more businesses and organisations to bridge their skills gap over the coming months.