8/6/2009

Printer Friendly Page Business people from a diverse range of industry sectors learned how the University of Wales, Newport can help them beat the recession by making full use of its facilities and recruiting talented students to boost their workforce.

The Developing Your Workforce in the Recession event underlined its message to employers with Charles Darwin's argument that "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

"Today was all about how the University can provide work-based learning initiatives that identify the needs of employers in order to assist in up-skilling and re-skilling a company's workforce to provide support in the current ‘credit crunch' climate," said event organiser Lloyd Williams, Senior Careers Adviser at the University.

"Our aim was to provide an overview of how companies can communicate with the University about their needs and requirements as an employer.

"The Careers Service highly values its relationships with both academics and employers, and we are well positioned to act as a link between the two. I was very happy with the buzz of activity and communication at the event. Some potentially productive networks were clearly being developed."

RIGHT: Jing Lu of the University's Careers Service chats to Naeem Amir, Accountancy4u (Wales) Limited, Dr Jo Smedley of Newport Business School, Mandy Withers of Talk HR Solutions Ltd, and Captain Tom Clarke of the British Army.

Among the local employers present was Mandy Withers of Talk HR Solutions Ltd, who said, "This has been a great event for small companies like ours. Employers are always looking for fresh ideas and a pool of resources, and this will enable us to bridge the gap between the University and local businesses. As a former student at the University I'm always keen to see what's happening here and currently already employ a graduate of Newport Business School with the aim of taking on more."

Naeem Amir of Accountancy4u (Wales) Limited, said, "Business is slow at the moment and clients are not recruiting as much. I came here today to network and get to know more contacts as I like to give my clients plenty of options and good advice. I've found out a lot about what Newport's University has to offer them."

Start-up businesses found the event useful too. Tee and Goldie Sandhu, who are in the process of establishing their company, Sims Foods Ltd, commented, "As entrepreneurs in the early stages of starting a business, we found the event very useful, especially the opportunity to network with other businesses and find out how the University can help us to develop our business."

For more information about how Newport's University can help businesses, contact Jing Lu, Employment Advisor, on 01633 432340 or by email at: jing.lu@newport.ac.uk  or careers@newport.ac.uk.University of Wales, Newport