Software
company ICL is recruiting ex-service personnel in a bid to combat skills
shortages as part of its diversity programme.
Since the initiative started three years ago, the company has invested
£90,000 in recruiting 36 ex-military staff to work as project managers.
Deirdre Murphy, employment policy manager at ICL, said, "This was seen
by the company as a chance to recruit people from different backgrounds who had
good IT and leadership skills."
ICL’s recruitment agency placed job adverts in armed forces publications,
such as The Soldier magazine. It also liaised with the armed forces’ HR
departments to find employment for officers who had finished their commissions.
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ICL’s diversity programme was cited as a best practice example by work and
pensions minister Malcolm Wicks at the Employers’ Forum on Age’s annual
conference last week.
The company is also targeting the recruitment of IT-literate 16 to
19-year-olds through local colleges in partnership with the Technology Colleges
Trust.
