Skills Conference will build bring together schools and businesses
Brokering recruitment between schools and businesses will be a key part of the agenda of Warwickshire County Council's annual Skills Conference on Wednesday 6th March.
Businesses and education-providers will gather in force at the National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh Park, for this breakfast conference, always a much-anticipated spring event in the county's business calendar.
Each year, the conference organisers explore skills and recruitment issues from a different angle. This year, university and Further Education speakers will describe how they can work with employers to help them recruit to higher-level jobs and also develop higher skills for existing employees. There will also be an emphasis on how businesses can attract and recruit the best young people straight from school sixth-forms.
Schools from throughout the county have supplied details of exactly the types of job that would interest their sixth-form leavers and that information will be shared with businesses at the conference.
Ian Smith-Childs, headteacher at The Coleshill School, said: "An increasing number of our sixth-form students are very interested in going into high quality apprenticeships or jobs with further training which enable them to continue their education to higher levels.
"More and more young people are considering this option instead of going to university in the light of increased fees and publicity about how many graduates are now underemployed in the workforce, ie. doing jobs for which a degree isn't required.
"There is a host of skills within sixth-form students across the county ready to be taken on and nurtured by business. The Skills Conference is a great way for the worlds of education and business to come together and find out what each other wants and can provide."
Warwickshire County Council Skills for Employment manager Glenn Robinson said: "I am delighted that so many schools and businesses will be represented at this year's conference which promises to be really valuable event.
"At a time when many sectors are troubled by a Skills Gap, and with further uncertainty caused by Brexit, it is essential to fully exploit the wealth of young talent coming out of our excellent schools, colleges and universities."
Among speakers at the Conference, which will begin with a buffet breakfast and networking session at 7.30am, will be Professor Pat Tissington (Academic Director of Employability and Skills, University of Warwick), Ian Smith-Childs (Headteacher, The Coleshill School) and Kerry McGreavy (Apprenticeship Manager, Coventry University).
This year's event will also deliver the latest local labour market forecasts in a keynote speech from Warwickshire County Council head of Economy & Skills Dave Aton-Hill.
The Skills Conference is a key element of Warwickshire County Council's £3 million Skills for Employment programme which has funded more than 40,000 careers and employability activities in more than 600 local businesses during the last four years
To book your free place at the Skills Conference please visit here.
For further information please e-mail: skillsforemployment@warwickshire.gov.uk