Our 30 year story
For those of you who don’t already know, Step was actually established way back in 1986 following a conversation between staff in Durham Business School and the far-sighted team in Shell UK’s social investment department, hence the acronym Shell Technology Enterprise Programme. While the idea of placing students to undertake business-critical projects in small businesses…
Step success – Collis Engineering Ltd.
At Step we’re enthusiastic about helping dynamic high-growth businesses access students and graduates for placements, internships or permanent roles. For constructive and balanced feedback on our work we like to hear about the candidate’s and the employer’s Step experience. We recently worked with Collis Engineering Ltd., an engineering consultancy operating in the rail signalling and infrastructure sector.…
Graduates, innovation and growth
One of the main issues raised by clients when discussing their future talent needs with us is the increasing challenge of finding suitably experienced hires. As a result, more and more are looking at new graduates as a part of a longer term strategy to support their business growth plans and related skills needs.…
Universities and smaller businesses: a case of market failure or a failure in marketing?
On my first day as a Research Fellow at the then newly designated Nottingham Trent University, part of my overall staff induction included a pleasant hour with the University’s Industrial Liaison Officer, who excitedly told me that, “SMEs were the future” and that’s where I should focus efforts if I wanted to identify more placement…
How internships can help with innovation, growth and diversity
Just 10 years ago, the idea of an intern was associated with a privileged & well connected few spending part of their summer vacation doing unpaid jobs in the city, at law firms or working as parliamentary aids at Westminster. But this is no longer the case. Companies of all shapes and sizes are now…
Lies, damned lies and graduate starting salaries
What is the current average graduate salary? And does it matter? Last week the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR)told the world that new graduates could expect to earn a salary in the region of £28,000 and since this was the average, one could expect that even better graduates could earn even more. Straight out of university. The…
Step + Intern = Career + Business Growth
One of the reasons why Step is so highly regarded by policy makers, businesses and universities is that year after year the students and recent graduates who take part in the programme deliver real tangible benefits for their host businesses whilst at the same time are developing their own employability skills and acquiring important work experience in…
New product development: it’s about your DNA – literally
Isohelix is a fast-growing division of Cell Projects Ltd, UK designers and manufacturers of innovative, high quality Molecular Biology Products used globally in Life Science, Cancer Research and Medical Diagnostic fields. Their range of products includes Electroporation, Transfection, PCR, qPCR, DNA Swabs & Kits, Gap Junction and Signal Transduction Studies. They market their range of…