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Acorn’s IT Division expands after first year of success
One of the UK's leading recruitment and training agency Acorn is celebrating the successful first year of its IT Division.
The Newport-based business with offices located UK-wide, formally moved into the specialist IT sector in February 2008 and has firmly established itself as a key IT recruitment provider across Wales having met its first year targets with around 60 clients – despite the economic downturn. The IT Division is being led by Lewis Fawsitt, Head of Permanent Recruitment, and managed by Operations Manager Dave Sadler.
“We had seen that businesses were finding it hard to recruit suitably qualified IT staff,” said Lewis Fawsitt.
“So our strategy in the first year was simply to establish our specialist credentials and then develop the IT Division by cross-selling to our existing client base in Wales. We managed to recruit Dave Sadler to head up the division, and his extensive experience and expertise in this sector has proven to be key to us becoming so well-established in only our first year
“Our reputation quickly grew and we have now been successful in attracting a host of new clients including start-ups, inward investors and national blue chip brands.”
Lewis said that IT graduates had traditionally migrated to London but other options were now emerging and Wales has increasingly begun to offer graduates opportunities.
“Growing numbers of IT professionals who are either from Wales or who have moved here to train are staying. Others, who had previously gone to London to work, are returning – often with valuable experience under their belts - tempted back by family ties, cheaper housing, a better quality of life or more rural lifestyle opportunities.
“Despite the downturn in the economy over the last 12 months our IT Division has performed excellently with all our targets being achieved,” said Lewis.
“We have recruited both permanent and contract staff in the private and public sectors and our core client base has grown to more than 60. The demand is certainly there - both revenue and the volume of vacancies suggest the sector will grow again this year. This is exemplified by the Sword Group, with which we worked extensively last year in Cwmbran.”
Gordon King, Business Unit Director at Sword Group, said: "We've been busy in the last year recruiting skilled IT staff for our operation in Cwmbran and Acorn have played an important role in that. We are working very well together and we are very pleased with both the calibre of the staff recruited and the efficiency of the whole process.
"We have a requirement for high calibre IT staff with specific skill sets and Acorn seems to have moved quite effortlessly into that sector. We'll be recruiting more skilled IT staff in Cwmbran in the year ahead and I'm happy for Acorn to be involved in the process once again."
Acorn believes its understanding of existing clients’ businesses, coupled with the specialist IT experience and expertise of its own consultants enables them to provide a first class service in the sector.
It has identified the key growth areas in IT as being in web technologies; specifically businesses are looking for people skilled in using the .NET framework, J2EE or with e-commerce experience. In addition, they have noted a trend for companies wanting to make their infrastructures more efficient, which requires them to invest in IT.
“Our plan for the year ahead is to expand geographically,” said Lewis. “The Acorn Group already operates extensively in the West Country and we’re planning to roll out our IT recruitment services to Bristol and Gloucestershire where we’ll be recruiting more specialists to help cover the territory, and eventually to complement our wider recruitment services right across the south-west of England. We also see opportunities in the public sector and we are already expanding the list of technologies we recruit for.
“Overall business confidence is a key factor of course but we are already looking forward to an exciting and rewarding second year for our IT Division.”
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