ASM launches graduate scheme as expansion continues

Distributor looks to graduates to increase headcount by 10 per cent in the next 12 months

Distributor ASM Technologies is launching a graduate scheme for the first time as it aims to bolster its headcount by 10 per cent over the next 12 months.

According to a statement from ASM, the increase in numbers is in line with its plans to reach the £50m turnover mark by 2017.

The distributor is looking to graduates to fill roles in sales, marketing and account management at its London and Winsford offices.

ASM is using the specialist IT sales recruiter, Robertson Sumner, to lead the graduate recruitment push, and it will be organising a graduate recruitment day in January 2015 where ASM hopes to recruit a good proportion of its new hires.

Iain Tomkinson, sales director at ASM Technologies, said: "With the European Commission (EC) predicting a 900,000 shortfall in IT jobs by 2020, and the government launching its Digital Taskforce in July, the IT skills crisis is widely regarded as one of the most pressing challenges facing our industry today.

"As ASM has grown and matured as an organisation, we have been able to shift our recruitment policy from solely seeking out experienced candidates from within the IT industry to now being able to hire good-quality graduates with no IT background at all," Tomkinson said.

Earlier this year ASM recorded a record year of sales growth as it reached the £28m turnover mark.