ARM student work experience programmes and involvement in local education

In the summer of 2008 we welcomed an excellent business student on a work experience placement. She was undertaking a diversity project, and we were delighted to be her subject. We benefited from her findings, and were very happy to later learn that she had gained a first class degree, attaining a very high mark for her studies based on her time with us. This is a great example how we like to work with students.

Most of the students who come to us have good IT skills and many are studying business or marketing, so we try to make sure, within reason, that their time here will be fulfilling and a real learning experience.

We are glad to be part of their final year business project, in a way that can benefit them and us, and we are happy to be very open about our business and its processes. In this way our students gain valuable real-world experience that will also assist them in their studies.

We have links with a number of local schools and colleges. Not only do we consider this to be good practice in terms of helping the local community, but we also use this as a way of recruiting potential future staff and have found some good employees in this way.

We also know full well the power of word of mouth in our industry, and we know that these students may talk to their peers, parents, and relatives, and it's important to us to increase our potential stakeholder community. We believe that staff recruited from academia can bring new perspectives, passion and ideas that will benefit our business.

In addition to this, our HR department also works with further education establishments, locally and further a field. This will include schools, colleges and universities in an advisory capacity. We are involved in helping students as they start to job hunt, so we may assist with CV writing tips, hosting workshops for mock interviews and talking to engineering, high technology and IT under graduates about how they can utilise their degrees within a specialist recruitment environment.

We also provide advice to the local 14 - 16 year-old student community, providing coaching sessions at their schools and colleges on all of the subjects. As you'd expect from a Recruitment consultancy, we know very well how daunting it can be when you're taking some of your first steps in a professional sphere.

Anyone interested in learning more our local education activities should call our HR department through the switchboard on 023 92 228 228.