Students from Solihull College who have completed their Level 1 qualification in retail and hospitality attended their award celebrations at Birmingham Metropolitan College (BMet) June 26. The programme, SMILE Birmingham, which was run in partnership with BMet, University College Birmingham (UCB) and Solihull College, aimed to provide unemployed people within the region with the skills they need to gain employment at the new Grand Central shopping complex which is set to open later this year.
The Colleges have worked closely with employers such as John Lewis to offer individuals the chance to attend assessment days in hope of gaining employment with employers in hospitality and retail.
Guest speaker Kerry Crane, Growth Support Manager from John Lewis congratulated the students and wished them luck for the future. Kerry also explained how impressed John Lewis has been with the high standard at the assessment days with great results being achieved. Kerry stated that within the assessments John Lewis assessors saw confidence within the candidates and it was clear that many would make good partners. Individuals will shortly be informed if they have been successful in gaining an offer of employment.
Shaun Hindle, Director of Employment and Skills at Solihull College, presented the students with their certificates. Shaun commented “We are proud of our students on completing their Level 1 qualification including SMILE Birmingham programme and we are sure that they will now go on to successful employment. The partnership between the three Colleges and Grand Central, including John Lewis, has been a very exciting scheme to be involved with and one that will not only be beneficial to our students to help them find employment but also to the region as a whole as Birmingham develops. We look forward to continuing to work with the partnership to offer students these fantastic opportunities.”
After being presented with their awards the students enjoyed an afternoon tea at Birmingham Metropolitan College. Those who completed the course are hoping to quickly find their way into employment and many of the students explained that their confidence has grown as a result of the course and they have and will continue to submit applications to find employment. As Grand Central develops more employers are releasing their vacancies and the newly qualified students will be looking to fill these positions.
Solihull College continues to work with employers to provide students opportunities to lead to employment. For more information of the opportunities available at Solihull College click here or call 0121 678 7000.
