Edinburgh Evening - Investment in yourself is this the best investment you can ever make 28/4/16

Training and skills add up Evening News Article

 Interview with Caroline Meikle Head of Corporate Training Scotland

Invest in yourself is the best investment you can make?

STRUCTURED training is essential at all levels from young apprentices to more mature workers, yet a shortage of candidates with the right skills continues to be a major challenge for employers. There are huge economic gains to be made from upskilling Scotland’s workforce whether that is through in-house training programmes or individuals looking to make their CV stand out from the crowd. According to the Hays Global Skills Index 2015, skilled migration offers a short-term solution to the gap, but investing in your employees’ careers and your own career remains the most sustainable option.

 Some organisations turn to external trainers to upskill their teams. Pitman Edinburgh has been running courses on everything from telephone techniques to how to build a computer for 30 years. But it’s not just employees and job hunters who need to keep their skills up to date.

Caroline Meikle, head of corporate training at Pitman in Edinburgh, puts the training centre’s longevity down to making sure the courses offered are updated regularly to incorporate the latest trends and techniques.  “Our company has managed to survive on being able to adjust to the marketplace,” says Meikle. “We now have a social media overview because that has become more prevalent and we have adapted our courses to include that.”  The training courses, workshops, seminars and diplomas at Pitman are open to both private individuals who might be actively seeking opportunities for promotion or a new position and companies looking for tailored training courses for a whole team of staff. “If it’s a new company, they might never have set out appraisals before so they might want to make sure that their management team knows how to appraise people,” explains Meikle.  “All our courses are designed round good communications and team management. “Time management is one of our most popular courses along with meetings and minutes if you are in a secretarial role. “Anyone that sends someone on our courses is doing it because it is a development opportunity to learn something new. “It might be something that’s come up in their appraisals that they want to build on, but we also get private individuals who want to learn new skills.” While some students know exactly what they need to do to take the next step on the career ladder, others go to Pitman for advice on how to impress a prospective employer at an interview. “In the private side about 60 per cent of students have a job and about 40 per cent are looking for a job and they might need a short course to update a skill,” says Meikle. “They can do a course over a day or two days then when they go to their interview they are fit for purpose. Sometimes we get people coming to us who want a job but don’t know what they need to get it. “We can talk to them and find out what they are interested in. The great thing we can do is that we can give neutral advice. “We just talk to them, listen to their career history and watch their reactions to different courses. If you suggest an admin assistant course they might light up.”

Employers requiring group courses can work with Pitman to devise a learning programme that is tailored to the needs of their company. “There’s quite a high demand for us to go into the workplace,” she says. “Normally I would go out and visit the customer, learn about their business and get a feel for what they really need. I would then come back to them about what we can do for them.“We tailor the courses quite a bit for supervisory skills because that’s really intended for people who have just made the transition. “We have found that we get a lot of companies where they have an existing management team who have slipped into bad habits.” Meikle says one of the most popular courses is about influencing skills which is designed for people who are already confident in their communication techniques, but who want to learn more about inspiring or persuading colleagues and clients. “The other thing we have had a big uptake on this year is project management programmes,” she continues. “It’s for people who are used to managing projects but who perhaps don’t have any official qualifications. “For most of the courses, you just need to be able to operate a PC. The only courses which have prerequisites can be the technical courses.”