e-Placement Scotland, the employability programme introduced to tackle the IT skills gap, is celebrating after securing its 2000th paid student placement.

Launched in 2010 and funded by the Scottish Funding Council, the programme is run as a partnership between ScotlandIS and Edinburgh Napier University and aims to address the skills shortage by matching talented students with quality paid work placements in the Scottish IT sector. All placements are paid, with competitive pro-rata salaries offered from £16,000 to £22,000.

Speaking about the success of the programme to date, Sally Smith, project director of e-Placement Scotland, said: “We are so proud of this milestone in the project – each placed student has benefited from their experience. We recently asked students about their experience in hunting for a graduate role and they all spoke of placement as a key factor to show a good attitude and aptitude.”

Polly Purvis, CEO of ScotlandIS, added: "It's really great to see the success of e-Placement Scotland in making sure employers across the tech sector and further afield have access to the talent in our colleges and universities.  The project team is a perfect mix of industry-facing and university/college-facing activity that brings employers together with students resulting in meaningful short and long term paid placements.”

e-Placement Scotland has worked with more than 600 companies over the last eight years. Participating organisations include Morgan Stanley, Craneware and Microsoft, as well as a range of SMEs and start-ups. It also works closely with universities and colleges across the country in order to engage a diverse group of talented students.

The programme offers employers the opportunity to grow their own tried and tested talent at a fraction of traditional recruitment costs. It also helps smaller companies who otherwise may not have access to recruitment resources to attract talented graduates. In turn, students gain essential ‘on the job’ experience within their chosen sector.

Nicola Hamill Phillips, HR Manager for Smarter Grid Solutions and e-Placement Scotland advisory board member, said: “A big congratulations on e-Placement reaching 2000 placements! I have used the e-Placement service to obtain great quality interns in a number of companies and I couldn't recommend them highly enough. They provide a seamless intern recruitment process securing us a number of fantastic students. Some of the students have been so successful we have gone on to offer graduate roles with the company. It's great to see people come into the company through e-Placement and then to develop further in the company into managing their own teams or becoming subject matter experts. e-Placement is a fantastic resource for any SME looking to offer student placements.”

Sanaa Dawood, who undertook two summer placements with Leonardo and is now a graduate Software Engineer with them, said the following  "My placements have helped to prepare me {for this role} in a variety of ways.  I’m more confident and I’m willing to take on any challenge due to my positive experience of achieving my placement objectives and I know when it is necessary to ask for assistance. I also now have a good base of technical knowledge to progress the applications I am working on currently. If I hadn’t undertaken this placement, there would have been a much longer training period when I started to ensure I was ready."

Serena Battistoni who undertook a placement with The Resilience Engine said the following: "I secured a placement with The Resilience Engine in January 2017 through e-Placement Scotland, the role was officially advertised as "content editor" but it also allowed me to undertake tasks in graphic design, which was one of my dream jobs.   During my time with the company, I truly learned the real meaning of working in an AGILE way, I discovered new software and languages. I worked on the company website, the SEO, the blog, the marketing, the contents (images, videos, motivational posters, brochures...) and much more. After my initial placement period, I was offered to stay longer and I am currently a part time member of the team.  I am currently studying at RGU and I  am working up to 20 hours every week - it is hard work balancing study and employment but I have gained a lot in terms of satisfaction, confidence and self-esteem."

Thank you to everyone who has supported e-Placement Scotland over the last eight years.

If you are an employer who can offer a talented student a paid placement opportunity, please contact Jamie on jamie.duncan@scotlandis.com.