Olamalu, a Web Development company based in Oxfordshire recruited an Apprentice after speaking to 3aaa and realising their excitement about what our Apprenticeship programme could offer their business.
Kate Derman, Co-Founder of Olamalu:
“I am delighted to say that everything is going excellently. When 3aaa contacted us about an Apprentice and we looked at the IT Apprenticeship, we knew that this was the right thing for us to do. We were excited by the possibility of offering a young person the opportunity of working on the team whilst developing their IT skills at the 3aaa Academy, but unsure about how the whole Apprenticeship thing worked. The recruitment was exceptionally smooth. 3aaa did a great job of pre-screening candidates. It also helped that we warmed to Thomas immediately and knew that he would be a great fit for our team, as he has indeed proved to be.
The most important things for us in a candidate were their enthusiasm for IT and web development in particular, their willingness to learn and their ability to operate independently and flexibly. From the start, Thomas has clearly demonstrated the first two. For someone who’s only young, he’s doing well on the last one, and we’re working hard to develop his skills so that he can take on more complex tasks. As a company, we’ve always strongly believed in training our own staff, so for us training Thomas is a normal part of our operations. I think anyone taking on an Apprentice would need to make this sort of commitment to training.
He seems to be enjoying his work at the 3aaa Academy, and it’s good to know that he’s getting an all round education in IT.
I like the way the course is structured with one week at the Academy and then one week with us. This has enabled us to plan his work and develop the skills he needs. We are now looking forward to having him with us full time. “