FIT (Fastrack to IT), the industry-led training body for the unemployed or economically disadvantaged, today welcomed the recruitment by Microsoft of 15 FIT graduates, taking up internships in the Irish headquarters of the multinational organisation.
The FIT graduates will receive experience and mentoring from Microsoft over the coming months. FIT also announced today it has successfully placed 155 graduates in full-time jobs and 475 graduates in a mixture of part-time and internship roles since the beginning of 2011.
As well as in Microsoft Ireland, graduates have been placed in companies including Siemens, AOL, Adobe, Stream Global Services, EMC, Sun Life Financial, Google, Sisk Healthcare, SanDisk, PFH and Arvato.
FIT has been working with the IT industry for more than a decade in order to construct its courses in such a way that they offer the top employment prospects to graduates.
The organisation has a history of integrating industry best practices into its training programmes to maximise the employability of the trainees. FIT’s board is made up of industry representatives from Microsoft, Dell, Siemens and IBM to name but some. FIT works with them directly to identify the skills gap, develop the courses and subsequently equip FIT students so they are job ready at the end of their course.
Joe French, HR director, Microsoft Ireland, said: “Microsoft Ireland is proud to be taking part in this initiative. FIT has a reputation of excellence when it comes to providing education and training in information technologies. The organisation works with those who might be unemployed or from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and gives them skills that employers are genuinely seeking at the moment. Microsoft Ireland is happy to offer these FIT graduates a bridge between education and an innovative, international workplace.”
To date, FIT has successfully retrained more than 11,000 unemployed people in Ireland over the past 11 years. FIT works in partnership with industry, government, education and training providers such as FAS and the VECs.
For further information about FIT log onto its website.