VIP welcomes the class of 2016

Latest tranche of graduates and apprentices start at distie

VIP Computers has welcomed in the latest batch of staff from its graduate and apprentice programme as it pursues its long-term strategy for all staff to come through the scheme.

Five new graduates and apprentices joined the distie this week, joining a 60-strong commercial team. The more junior apprentice staff, which join at as young as 17, will spend their first stint at the distie getting used to working life, while the graduates will be thrown straight into training.

VIP's graduate and apprentice scheme has been running for three years and between two and six new starters join in each intake.

Director Rich Marsen told CRN that the long-term plan is that eventually, all staff at the distie will have been recruited through the programme.

"One of the commitments we make to our staff is that we will only promote from within," he said. "When we have got opportunities,[we hire] from our pool of talent we have got in the organisation. The idea of the graduate and apprenticeship programme is that all of our staff will come through that. It's going to take probably seven or eight years, but we have always got opportunities for people internally."

He added that university and school leavers are eager to learn, which is one of the best things about hiring through the programme.

"For me, it's the enthusiasm," he said. "At the very start of your career, you're enthusiastic and very keen to learn and there is no limitation as to what they can achieve. They are open to learning the way we want them to learn.

"The two things we get out of it is, in the short term, the ability to give young talent an opportunity in a job that they may not get otherwise, and in the longer term, we get a really well-rounded employee who is motivated and loyal to the business. We see it as a long-term investment."