It can be unusual for small businesses to invest in training but Academy Internet have gone to the other extreme and set up their own graduate training programme. Academy Internet was frustrated by the lack of suitably qualified junior consultants and decided to invest in developing and retaining its own pool of expertise.

The company has had a number of trainees, one of the recent graduates was Serena Steward. Serena reflects on her own experience,

'After joining Academy Internet as an Internet Marketing consultant, I was given the opportunity to improve my marketing knowledge and develop key business skills. In my first week I was given roles and responsibilities that would directly affect the business and I felt that my part here was a key to help the success of the company. I was also given a busier schedule with more complex and demanding tasks, which made me take pride in what I was doing and being part of a unique team.

AI Digital has not only helped me to enhance my business skills and knowledge base, it has also enabled me to develop as a person. It is a very exciting time for me as I am now taking on even more stimulating challenges and responsibilities with my work and developing good solid relationships with our clients. I have become more confident in the work that I do and I have recently been promoted to Search Engine Marketing Account Manager. I am very proud of the company’s success so far and I am looking forward to grow and help with the future success of AI Digital'.

Development Director, Jason Woodford is pleased with the positive business impact that the scheme has had on their customers and market position, he says ‘I know that few of our competitors provide any sort of formal work based training for staff and therefore if we train our people to be more knowledgeable, more effective and more capable than our competition, we'll produce better results than them for our customers. It's as simple as that."