What is more important, your customers or your employees?
The short answer is both. Our client retention is 97% over 15 years and sometimes we have to pinch ourselves that we still have our very first client from October 2003.
However, without our amazing team we would stand no chance of keeping such a high percentage, especially now that we have over 150 clients. Customers and employees are equally important.
The Directors of nTrust consider themselves very fortunate with their team. They are all highly motivated, caring and professional.
Every member of the nTrust IT support team has their own personal development training plan. Currently we have staff taking:Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) – Routing & Switching
Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA):
o Office 365
o Azure
o Windows 10
o Windows Server 2016CompTIA A+
Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA):
o Networking, Security & Windows Server Administration
o Software Development Fundamentals
In addition to providing the opportunity to learn new skills, we arrange regular social events, which allows us to all relax and have fun away from the work environment. The Gag House Comedy nights are always a winner.
Ambitious plans
nTrust has grown significantly year on year and we’re not about to take the foot off the pedal. Our ambitious plans for the next three years mean that we need to double the number of employees in the IT Support Team.
Our strategy has always been to recruit before we need to. This avoids staff getting stressed and it makes sure we never let our clients down as we continue our growth plans.
If you know anything about recruitment within the IT industry, you’ll know that finding people with the right skills and qualities for a customer facing role is no easy task. So, it’s been pleasing to see how IT apprenticeships have improved significantly in the last couple of years and this is the strategy we are adopting to develop the IT Support team.
Growing the team through Apprenticeships
We have just taken on two apprentices who, through a training company, will obtain industry recognised and endorsed certifications. They will finish with a “Level 3 Infrastructure Technician” qualification. This includes an MCSA: Windows 10, MTA Pro & ITIL Foundation qualifications.
In addition to the training they will develop their all-round skills with us in a supportive and fast-growing company.
A Government grant used to cover the costs of training, but this has changed. Today the onus is on the employer to pay the training company a fee for every apprentice who starts the course, as well as an early exit fee if the course is not completed. Recruiting the right candidates is crucial. Getting it wrong is be hugely costly in terms of time, money and energy.
Recruiting the right people
Developing a strong IT Support team is vital to our growth plans. So, we turned to Ali Waters, from The Recruitment Team, to help us improve our recruitment process. We now have a four-stage process that includes:
- 1. Competency based telephone interview
2. Learning Agility psychometric test
3. Three practical IT tests
4. Competency based face to face interview
The interview process is more structured and consistent, with a 1 – 4 scoring system that allows us to compare candidates. It also allows us to look back and compare potential candidates against those who we’ve already successfully employed.
With a growing team of young, motivated and bright people, nTrust has a very exciting and interesting future.
If you are interested in an apprenticeship with nTrust, please email Nick Thompson.
