Supporting SMEs with attracting digital talent
Our new business support offer aims to address the varying recruitment challenges spread across the digital sector, awarding 12 hours of fully funded consultancy support to SMEs in the North East, who are hoping to attract digital talent into their organisation.
Sunderland Software City and our partners, which include recruitment expert Talentheads, possess a wealth of knowledge surrounding business growth and talent acquisition. We will work with you to provide bespoke support, culminating in the delivery of a comprehensive talent acquisition strategy aligned to your business; helping you to recruit, retain and scale with ease.
We offer support in:
- Employer branding (insight and development)
- Building a strong employee value proposition
- In house training (upskilling hiring managers in the recruitment of technical roles)
- Upskilling leadership teams and improving organisational culture
- Talent searching (headhunting and building active/passive talent pools)
- Refining assessment and selection processes (job adverts, descriptions, and candidate onboarding)
- Discovery research, mapping target audience, competitor analysis and cost of hiring analysis
- Exploration of the region’s wider business support landscape and signposting to offers most relevant to your business
Please note, the type of support we offer is flexible and wide-ranging, so if in doubt please contact our Business Support Manager, Alex Mouat, to discuss further. She is available at 07734791042 or alex.mouat@sunderlandsoftwarecity.com.
Eligibility
As the overall project is funded via the European Regional Development Fund, there is a stringent process and compliance procedures we must follow throughout the business support process.
We are currently only able to support SMEs that are registered (and operating or trading) in the following areas:
- Sunderland
- Newcastle
- Gateshead
- South Tyneside
- North Tyneside
- Northumberland
- County Durham
To access support, businesses must also:
- Be classified as an SME and employ less than 250 members of staff
- Be private sector
- Have received less than €200,000 in De Minimis funding in the last three years
- Have a trading arm or generate income
If you are unsure as to whether your business is eligible to access support, please contact our Business Support Manager using the details below.
The Process
- The company meets with our Business Support Manager to briefly discuss available support
- The company completes Support Form A, an online registration form to check eligibility
- Once confirmed, the company completes a Pre-Support Proposal Document which aims to capture information about the desired support, current pain points and future business aims
- The team use the pre-support information to plan how to move forward and identify the most suitable Talent Partner to work with the company. 12 hours of fully funded consultancy is then given, culminating in a bespoke talent acquisition strategy and supporting materials being made available to the company
- The company completes Support Form B, detailing all support received
- In the following 4 weeks, the company completes Support Form C, recording any jobs created
Any questions?
Please feel free to get in touch with our Business Support Manager, Alex Mouat.
Email Alex
You can also check out our digital flyer to share information about the business support options that we have available and to find out more.
Our business support service is fully funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The Digital Innovation Partnership Project is receiving funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund.
Established by the European Union, European Regional Development Fund funds help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations.
For more information visit the gov.uk website.
