Preston College
Preston College is the sixth largest FE College in the UK and is a dynamic part of its local community. It offers a huge number of courses ranging from A Levels and Modern Apprenticeships to degrees and vocational qualifications. Equally varied are the people studying there: sixth formers, undergraduates and adult learners all come together to form its student profile.
To assist its students into the work place – either temporarily during their studies or full time once completed – the college has its own on-site Recruitment Agency. The agency was established in early 2003 and proactively places students in jobs, primarily with local firms and schools. However it is also very much a community-based venture and is used by local residents as a source of potential employment opportunities – rather like a job centre.
However, for any recruitment agency or job centre to function efficiently it needs to be able to identify measure and verify its candidates’ skills. This not only demonstrates to employers that potential recruits have the necessary abilities, but can often prove it to candidates themselves who have little confidence in their abilities.
“Because we provide a service to the local community as well as to the college’s student population we often find we have mothers returning to work, or people who have been unemployed a long time. In these situations it’s easy to lose confidence, and under play your abilities.” explains Angela Callagher, the Recruitment Agency Manager. “Assessing skills in a user-friendly environment is an important way of overcoming this.”
Because of her wide experience in recruitment, Angela had tried numerous testing applications from in-house systems to market leading products. However she selected Skillsarena’s online assessment suites to support the Recruitment Agency’s activity at Preston College “We were impressed with Skillsarena from the start. It’s very easy to use, for administrators and candidates. The tests are different, so people who are experienced at these things don’t have an advantage, and the price was excellent too, which is very important to an education establishment,” comments Angela. “We also like the very reliable, but not intrusive support service that we get.”
Preston College is now using Skillsarena’s primary testing suite, comprising Microsoft Office and UK Clerical skills, as well as general aptitude tests. The college has also taken advantage of Skillsarena’s new Create Your Own service to develop a specifically designed assessment suite for IT technician’s roles. “Because the assessments are online, the tests can be carried out at any PC – meaning that candidates are not restricted to the Recruitment Agency’s opening hours and office space,” says Angela. “That degree of flexibility is really important for our users.”
Once candidates have completed a skillsarena testing suite he or she is issued with a certificate, which can be sent to potential employers. “It’s most unusual to get a certificate after doing a testing module like this,” says Angela. “But I think it gives employers and candidates faith in the system.”
The Skillsarena suites can also be used to establish training needs and knowledge gaps. Angela explains: “The tests can show whether someone is as proficient at a certain skill as they say they are. If their skills need brushing up or they need to learn new ones, the assessment will highlight this. The assessment suites can be used after a period of training to check how much progress has been made.”
The Skillsarena assessment suites have become an important part of the service at Preston College’s Recruitment Agency, and will help the agency to grow within the college and the community.
“Our business is built on our reputation, and we get a lot of our customers based on referrals. It is therefore really important that we maintain that reputation, and Skillsarena is helping us to just that by enabling us to prove and hone the abilities of our candidates.
“We’re also currently involved in bids for work within the community; assisting with unemployment, especially long term,” says Angela. “We wouldn’t be able to contemplate going for these projects without Skillsarena on board.”
The Recruitment Agency at Preston College is also developing plans to use Skillsarena when recruiting internally.
