BJSS expands academy programme for school leavers
Consulting firm BJSS has expanded its intake of school leavers, apprentices and graduates. The move is the latest in a succession of announcements from the firm, which remains determined to encourage young people to take up a career in technology, engineering and consulting.
Dan Webb, Head of Academy at BJSS, said, “Anyone who works in a technology business knows one of the biggest challenges is growing talent. That’s why we’re excited to take the next step forward with the BJSS Academy and add three new streams to the programme. Data, Platform and Business Consultancy are all massively growing areas in our business as well as in the wider industry, so it’s essential for us to home grow talent in these disciplines.”
In 2020, with youth unemployment on the rise, BJSS declared it would fill 80 new roles in its Academy. Now the firm is looking to kick on by recruiting more than 200 people across all disciplines, including the existing engineering stream.
The programme comes highly commended by last year's cohort. One member, Tom Webb, said the 2020 scheme was "quite a different experience" than he expected from a graduate scheme, but its diversity meant it was "probably one of the best a graduate could hope for." Fellow Graduate Software Engineer Abigail Chubb further emphasised this, adding the best thing about the programme is that "there are so many different roles and different projects," with opportunities to change direction at many points, meaning that "even if you are on a project learning one thing there's always going to be an opportunity to have a go at something else."
New engineering talent
When it comes to filling permanent vacancies, UK employers have consistently voted engineering and technical in the top three most challenging functions. Engineering companies will need 182,000 people per year with engineering skills running up to 2022, however there is a current shortfall of 55,000 skilled engineering professionals per year.
Students in the UK are receiving their A Level and GCSE results at present, and moving onto the next stage of their education or career. BJSS hopes it can encourage more of them to start a career in technology, engineering and consulting through its Academy programme.
Running across all of BJSS’ UK offices, other arms of the programme include ‘data’, covering competencies related to data engineering and analysis, and ‘platform,’ which will arm people with skills in the main cloud platforms. Meanwhile, its ‘business consultancy’ programme will immerse people in the role of consultants within technology delivery.
Applications to join the BJSS Academy are now open to school leavers and graduates – as well as a new group. The news marks the first year in which Apprenticeships will come under the BJSS Academy programme. Apprentices will go through their own four-week bootcamp-style training course and then receive full support from BJSS mentors to decide the necessary steps to further their skills and career progression within the business.
