Totrain young recruits Lewis Berry, Louise Smith and Adam Robinson
Totrain young recruits Lewis Berry, Louise Smith and Adam Robinson

Member Article

Business supports local graduates and apprentices

While many graduates and school leavers across the UK are finding it difficult to find full-time work, one North-East business recently completed the ‘hat-trick’ by employing its latest young recruit.

Adam Robinson has been taken on by totrain, a Norton-based training business which specializes in supporting the food industry.

The 22-year-old, from Bishop Auckland is a Web Developer, having graduated from the University of Teesside with a degree in Multimedia and Web Development.

He joins fellow ‘young guns’ Louise Smith and Lewis Berry who joined totrain as a graduate and apprentice respectively.

Adam says: “My main role is looking after the training academies we create for clients to run their own bespoke in-house training. These clients include large national food production companies such as Charlie Bighams and SK Chilled Foods.

“This is my first full time job. It is a really nice and relaxed place to work. I work closely with Louise and Lewis, trying to find the best solutions for our clients.”

Louise, 26, Redcar, started at totrain 18 months ago. In her role as an e-Learning Developer, Louise develops courses for clients, creating alongside Adam and Lewis, a series of engaging and interactive e-learning courses.

She said: “I did my degree in Graphic Design at Teesside University which covered many different aspects so I had the knowledge in different areas of design when I left.

“I graduated in 2013 and I was lucky I got a job pretty much straight away in a digital signage company where a few of us had gone on work experience and they offered me a job. My old tutor then me about the job here at Totrain and so I applied.

“It seemed like a really nice place to work and it was a good opportunity to make the change. I like doing the design work and liaising more with the clients, I enjoy that. I get the chance also to do branding which I enjoy.

“totrain are a really good company to work for. I’m getting more responsibility and there’s opportunity for me to grow even more within the company and as a person.”

Lewis, 24, from Billingham, has been with totrain for three and a half years. He came to the business as an apprentice aged 19 having left school in 2010.

He said: “I was in college doing media studies, computing and IT as A levels. I heard about the Totrain apprenticeship online and it appealed to me as it was making use of my skills that I’d learned at college in IT.

“It’s a good working environment and very relaxed. It’s been great as there was a real synergy between what I was learning at college and what I was doing in the work.

“I develop course materials and change them into engaging and interactive courses for clients. They can include video and film and animation for example. I like to work on different mediums and different media and my job gives me the chance to do that.

“I would recommend it as an apprenticeship, it’s given me a really good grounding in lots of skills.”

Helen Hood, Director at totrain, said: “We really want, as a business, to support local graduates and school leavers. Our team have been really successful and are vital parts of our organisation.

“Adam, Louise and Lewis have key roles ensuring we offer a range of training solutions for businesses in the food sector including online academies, online courses and training consultancies.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Neil Shaefer .

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