Audience Systems Ltd has been named SME of the Year in the West & South West (small and medium-sized enterprises) by the Careers & Enterprise Company.
The award is in recognition for its work supporting careers education and helping young people into the world of work.
The Careers & Enterprise Company Annual Awards 2018 recognise and celebrate inspirational work being done by schools and colleges, employers, volunteers and careers professionals around England. A record number of over 200 nominations were submitted for this year’s nine award categories, which were decided by panel of independent expert judges.
Audience Systems was awarded in the SME category due to its programme of activities which support young people into work. The company attends careers fairs, assists with mock interviews and offers work experience placements. It also regularly takes on apprentices and trainees throughout the business – including in production, project management, estimating, engineering and sales. The company is the UK market leader for fixed and retractable audience seating, serving schools, theatres, arenas and sports venues from its factory and headquarters in Westbury.
Hannah Martin, HR manager for Audience Systems said, “Our programme of supporting young people does not only benefit them, it benefits us too. Like many companies in this area, particularly in the manufacturing sector, one of our major challenges is finding people with the right skills to help us grow our business. We want to engage young people, to change perceptions of working in manufacturing, and equip them with the skills they need to succeed. That’s good news for all local businesses and good news for us, allowing us to find people with the potential to become a real asset to our business.”
To add to Audience Systems’ pride in its achievements, one of the schools which the company works most closely with is Matravers School, Westbury – which was awarded the national prize in the schools category at the same awards ceremony.
The Careers & Enterprise Company was established by government in 2015 to help schools and colleges, employers, funders and careers programme providers to create high impact careers and enterprise support for young people. They aim to inspire and prepare young people for the fast-changing world of work. The company’s 2,000+ enterprise adviser network of business volunteers currently works in over half of the country’s secondary schools and colleges.
Claudia Harris, chief executive of The Careers & Enterprise Company said, “Preparing young people for the fast-changing world of work has never been more important. There is incredible work going on in schools, colleges, employers and more across the country. We hope these awards are a small way to say thank you and shine a light on this amazing work.”
Judge Nick Bowen, principal at Horizon Community College and who sits on The Careers & Enterprise Company’s headteacher advisory group said, “This year we had a record number of entries. It was a real challenge to pick the winners because of the amazing quality of entries. This is a testament to the increasing excellence of careers provision and partnership across the country. Businesses like this are helping thousands of young people to fulfil their futures. They should be very proud of themselves.”
