Graduate employment boost as East Ayrshire Council offers business incentive
For Craig and Eva Sanders Photography, an increasing workload meant the couple had to reassess their business. Explains Eva: “We’ve been running our wedding photography business together for six years and as time has gone on we’ve become increasingly busy. As couples we’ve worked for have gone on to have their families they’re asking us to do portrait photography their children too, but I found the time involved in running the business, answering emails, administration and invoicing etc meant that we were having to turn jobs down.
“We spoke to Yvonne Anderson, Jobs Brokerage officer at East Ayrshire Council and we were initially looking for an admin assistant. We certainly didn’t expect that we’d be lucky to find someone as perfectly fitted for the job as Kelly.”
Kelly Fisher, a graduate of Glasgow School of Art had been unemployed since completing her degree last June. She had previous experience of working in a bank and was referred to the Skills Development and Employability Service by the Job Centre. When Yvonne interviewed Kelly she realised that her training in photography, graphic design and illustration allied with her banking experience made her a perfect match.
For Kelly it was a welcome break : “I wasn’t thinking I’d be able to get a job that would use my creative skills, and I was amazed how quickly it moved. After months of trying, one day I went for an interview with Yvonne and the next day I had a job!”
Eva says: “Using this recruitment incentive has taken a huge burden off our shoulders. We’ve never employed anyone before and had no idea about contracts, recruitment, selection processes etc. Yvonne has guided us right through that process and the financial assistance is a huge help to get Kelly’s job up and running. Without that it would have been far more difficult for us to do. With Kelly on board we can take the business in new directions and keep up with demand while giving her a great start in the industry.”