Shetland businesses benefit from graduate placement programme

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is looking for Shetland businesses to take up their offer to pay half the wages of a graduate employee for a single year.

The Graduate Placement Programme encouraging graduates and undergraduates looking for a placement or a full-time job, an opportunity to show employers what they are capable of.

Five companies have already taken up this year's offer of £7,500 under HIE's Graduate Placement Programme, but there is enough money in the £76,500 budget to pay for five more to join them.

The programme has been running since 1995, though for the first 10 years it exclusively served the islands' fishing and aquaculture industries.

Now HIE is targeting businesses working in the six key sectors of the regional economy - creative industries; energy (particularly renewables); financial and business services; food and drink (including agriculture and fisheries); life sciences; and tourism.

The scheme has proved highly successful. Every participating company which responded to a survey said they would use it again if they had the chance.

It has also had a direct impact on Shetland's levels of depopulation, with only six of the 71 participating graduates known to have left the islands.

This year the programme has already allowed website designers NB Communication to take on 22 year old John Pottinger, who was keen to return to his native islands after a four year computing degree course at Abertay University, in Dundee.

John said: "It was very important for me to come back to Shetland. I came back last summer and have been keeping my eye open for jobs. This is the only one that ticked all the boxes for me," adding that he hopes it will turn into a long term career.

His employer David Nicol said the Graduate Placement Scheme is tremendously helpful to his efforts to grow NB Communication into a bigger and more successful company.

"It's fantastic to get someone into the business, train them and make them part of the team. I noticed the improvement immediately. John is already handling alot of the work that I had to do myself before, freeing me up to get on with business development projects," he said.

HIE development officer Jem Arthur, based in Lerwick, said: "The programme is a great way of attracting and retaining graduates into Shetland. It will help stem the loss of many bright and able individuals and allows graduates to utilise their qualifications and gain hands on experience in Shetland businesses."