Nurturing young talent is high on the agenda of many of our member businesses, whether through work experience, apprenticeships, graduate training schemes or internships and often leading to permanent positions.
Stockport based Entertainment Today, an award winning Event Management company, can demonstrate first-hand how nurturing young talent can lead to a loyal and highly successful team.
Managing Director, Julie Arnold commented:
“A lot of graduates leave University with a wealth of ‘text book’ knowledge. But they don’t have the experience to apply what they learn in the lecture theatre to their everyday work within the office.
“I have taken on several work-experience and internship students over the past few years who have been beneficial to the business as they introduce fresh ideas with young enthusiasm; in return I have been able to provide a well-structured programme which not only offers a real representation of the job, but has proved invaluable as both a CV building tool and in helping to secure their first job.”
Two students who undertook internship programmes in 2009 with Entertainment Today have since been employed on a full time basis, working their way up the company into senior positions.
Joanne Clayton, now Event Director, explains:
“I think it’s important to work your way up through a company from the bottom up, especially in an industry such as events, where it’s important to have experience in all areas. There are many organisations which take advantage of interns but Julie treated me as an employee from the offset providing me with invaluable industry experience”.
Emily Jennings, Event Operations Manager, adds:
“My internship allowed me the opportunity to prove my ability to do the job, especially at a time when few companies where employing staff, even on a temporary basis. Without the opportunity offered by an internship programme, it’s highly unlikely I’d have been able to gain the experience that entry level jobs require.”
Entertainment Today currently employs two apprentices and a further work experience student, all from in and around the Stockport area and part of the team who led the company to victory in the 2014
Talk of Manchester Awards where they won the accolade of Best Events Company, evidence that investing time in young people can strengthen the company and lead it to further success.