TDSi has new apprentices: Stephanie Herridge, in its Finance Department, Amanda Wright in the Product Development team and Hannah Collins to assist with Operations.
Stephanie will be studying for AAT in Accountancy, and Amanda for a HND in Mechanical Engineering. John Davies, Managing Director, said: “I am a great believer in nurturing fresh talent and that it can be just as valuable to a business as experience or academic qualifications. I have always looked to expand the TDSi team by finding a good mix of skills. It’s essential to have experienced staff, but I truly believe that taking on younger people with fresh ideas and skills is a key contributing factor to keeping your business relevant and successful.”
TDSi believes there are a number of benefits to taking on apprentices. Apprenticeships give young school-leavers a chance to enter the world of business and to experience the commercial as well as theoretical and technical aspects of working. They also offer a realistic and fruitful alternative to further or higher education. John Davies added: “For some careers, university education is essential and represents an excellent investment for the future. However, where apprenticeships really come into their own is that they offer a clear career progression for young people who would rather go straight into their chosen profession. Having this alternative path, without the encumbering debt of student fees and loans, is a very attractive proposition. Apprenticeships offer hands-on learning in a real business and practical experience and training that may be lacking for a graduate who has spent a number of years in academia. It can be difficult for graduates, who often have very high expectations, to persuade an employer to take them in the kind of role they may have envisaged (especially if they have studied an unrelated or mostly academic subject). It’s equally fruitful for the employer. As well as the undoubted boost to the whole team of having an enthusiastic apprentice, they will be keen to learn real work skills and training can be tailored to match the needs of the business sector. Apprentices will benefit from working closely with more experienced staff, but equally the rest of the team will have an excellent source of help with many of the more everyday tasks. Because an apprentice’s expectations are to learn and gain experience, , the business can channel additional resources into training and in fact may be able to offer additional apprenticeships, which further benefit both the young people and the business.”
TDSi’s other aim is to address the gender misbalance within the security industry. A third of the TDSi UK team are female and the aim is to increase this further. John Davies said: “Naturally we look to recruit the best people for the role, but it is apparent that there are still a disproportionate lack of women in the security industry. I believe that having a good mix of people is vital in any successful business, it gives different perspectives and brings new ways of working – so I am proud that we are achieving this and will continue to diversify our growing team to find the ideal mix of people.”
For more details on TDSi’s range of products and service, visit: www.tdsi.co.uk
