51Âþ»­

Businesses joined students to celebrate the successful end of the second group of a project that aims to show the career opportunities Leicester has to offer graduates.

BrightER Futures is a collaboration between 51Âþ»­ Leicester (51Âþ»­) and ER Recruitment. Some 20 students are paired with 20 businesses from Leicester to provide them with insight into what it would be like working in SMEs and the variety of businesses that run in the city.

brighter Futures group

To congratulate the students on completing the programme, a celebration event was held at 51Âþ»­ with guest speakers Eileen Perry MBE DL, Richard Bowden of 51Âþ»­ Works, Emily Smith of Michael Smith Switchgear, student Sanaa Khalif and BrightER Futures co-ordinator Scarlett Tinsley, who each discussed the achievements throughout the project and the importance of student and business collaboration.

Companies including music licensing firm PPL PRS, Michael Smith Switchgear, Breedon Consulting and Furnley House Financial Advice have hosted students and many came along to a special session at 51Âþ»­ to thank everyone who took part.

Eileen Perry, who is also a Pro-Chancellor at 51Âþ»­, said “ER Recruitment are proud to be able to utilise our business relationships to provide relevant work experience to 51Âþ»­ students within locally leading firms.

“The programme aims to retain talented students within the region, and we are delighted that alongside the businesses involved, we have been able to provide these students with the best possible start as they transition into the world of work”.

The companies who took part were: McIntyre Hudson, ER Recruitment, Happy Pet, Menphys, East Midlands Chamber, Cross Productions, RSM, Kazzoo IT, Michael Smith Switchgear, Momentum, Pick Everard, Breedon Consulting, Paradigm Wills, Corporate Architecture, Fraser Stretton, Brewin Dolphin and Furnley House.

Acounting and business management student Faris Al-Shaer was placed with an investment company Furnley House. He said: “I’ve never had a real office experience before. I got to see how different areas of the business worked. I was expecting a boring office but it was nothing like that. It was a nice place and everyone was friendly, and I have learned a lot.”

Communication Arts and Media student Anna-Maria Sikora worked with Cross Productions. “I loved it,” she said. “They made me part of the team and I have loved learning from them. It has shown me that I am not a student I am a potential employee and thinking about and seeing how offices work and being part of that team work.”

Tom Bromwich from PPL PRS music company, said initiatives such as BrightER Futures were important to show graduates the opportunities there were in the city.

He said: “I think BrightER Futures is massively important. Having a CV is one thing but having the confidence to go into a building and learning the soft skills to work alongside people through doing stuff like this can make a huge difference. SMEs are the place to be if you are talking about opportunities as you get to experience so many different parts of the business.”