Peters Ltd, a leading school supplier, has been able to ease its workload and grow its business thanks to the help of student support from Birmingham City University's Higher Level Skills Match (HLSM) programme, part-funded by the European Social Fund.
Posted 14 June 2022
Who are Peters Ltd?
Peters is the UK’s leading specialist supplier of children's books and furniture to schools, academies, public libraries and multi-academy trusts.
With a passion for inspiring children and young people to read for pleasure, they offer a range of services to support schools’ reading requirements and help improve literacy levels.
The team also offer bespoke book selections, book packs and a free library design service to help schools transform their libraries and reading zones.
The opportunity - Finding strong and reliable support to help the business grow
As a Birmingham based business, Peters signed up to the Higher Level Skills Match project (HLSM) through BCU with the aim of reaching talented students and graduates to fill specialist roles within design.
As an extremely busy team, Peters Ltd were keen to recruit a new team member to support with the existing workload and grow the business.
Following unsuccessful recruitment through existing channels, the team partnered with HLSM and BCU for support with recruiting a student.
“Higher Level Skills Match enabled us to find a candidate not only with the right skill set but also with an interest in and passion for our specific area within the industry.”
The team were also keen to support students and recent graduates by providing industry experience.
They felt that taking on a new graduate would benefit them as they would be quick to learn and would have amassed the latest skills in design software from their course at BCU.
The delivery - Permanent recruitment and an exciting partnership
With support from their Account Manager Wayne Pottinger, Peters were able to successfully recruit a student with the necessary skills for the role.
After his placement ended, Rowan’s hard work and talent for the role meant we were keen to keep him as a full-time member of the team.
"Rowan has secured a permanent role with the organisation and has since gone above and beyond. In his six months here so far, he has already successfully secured four designs with clients (normally it could take a year to secure one)."
Peters hope to offer work experience or an internship to future graduates across the businesses, giving graduates the support and first step into the industry.
Many businesses from different sectors and walks of life have benefitted from HLSM's support. For example, leading retail brand Lounge Underwear have forged a long-term partnership, while community sports project City of Birmingham Hockey Club have benefited from social media support.
Interested in gaining new skills, knowledge and talent? Find out more on how HLSM can help you.
More information on assistance for SMEs can be found via our business growth support page.
