British business still seeks talented youth despite worrying unemployment figures says Quest

Oct. 12, 2011 - PRLog -- Official figures released today show that UK unemployment rose by 114,000 between June and August to 2.57 million, a 17-year high, while the unemployment total for 16-24 year olds hit a record high of 991,000 in the quarter, a jobless rate of 21.3%.

But it is not all bad news for young people with plenty of opportunities for those who show the determination and aptitude to carve a career in business.

Quest Director Jo Barnard said: “While today’s figures are of course concerning, there are a tremendous range of opportunities out there for dynamic young people prepared to work hard and make a career for themselves.

“At Quest Professional, we work with a wide range of blue chip companies and global brands. Our business courses evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of the modern workplace and we have a superb record of securing jobs for our apprentices.

“Almost three quarters of our apprentices get a full time job within eight weeks of completing our courses and we have successfully coached 1,300 people in the last five years to achieve their first step on the career ladder. Quest Professional can take a 16 year old straight after their GSCEs and in 36 weeks we can get them a job starting on £18,000 a year.

“We meet with blue chip companies on a regular basis and hear all the time how personal aptitude and training is more important than a university education. The growing number of our former apprentices who thrive in careers at these companies suggests attitudes are changing.

“Our message to those young people who have seen today’s unemployment figures and are concerned about their prospects is to keep seeking opportunities, don’t lose hope but grasp any opportunity to develop yourself.”

Quest Professional runs a range of courses which offer a complete range of business and personal development skills that ensures candidates can undertake a variety of roles, which is so vitally important in the competitive jobs market, such as marketing, finance and strategic planning.
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NOTES TO EDITORS

The brands that underpin Quest have existed since 1912. Originally Queen’s Secretarial College, Quest Professional combines the former well-known businesses of Queen’s Secretarial College, Lucie Clayton, and St James’s and provides tailored training in skills for the modern business environment with an updated and progressive coaching and development approach.

Quest Professional offers a mixture of courses based on terms of up to 36 weeks, focused on the development of essential business skills. In the current environment of increased university fees, employer concern over the quality and relevance of some degrees in the business world, it is seen increasingly as a positive choice to university.

Quest Professional also has specific courses aimed at those who have graduated and are looking for business training following the completion of their degree. It is seen as the first step into committing to a career and taking life more seriously.

Quest Professional assists its graduates on completion of their course through its placement service to find employment in a world where there is fierce competition for jobs. Its reputation with employers in the business and professional job market greatly assist its graduates to gain employment following the completion of their course.

Quest Professional Managing Director Sean Morgan joined BE Limited in 2010, a group within the education sector whose businesses include Quest Professional and the Frances King School of English.

He provides strategic guidance for Quest and also works directly with Quest Professional apprentices on self awareness programmes, career development and explaining the workings of finance.

Quest Professional Director Jo Barnard started working for Sight & Sound Education Ltd in the late 1980s and quickly moved into contract business development for large public sector programmes.

She joined Lucie Clayton in 1997 and played an instrumental role in the merger with St James’s in 2003 and the subsequent sale and merger with Queen’s in 2006 which resulted in the formation of Quest. She was appointed Director of Quest in March 2010.  

Quest has a superb record of placing its apprentices in jobs at blue chip companies including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Morgan Stanley, Grant Thornton, Nomura, Goldman Sachs, the Royal Bank of Scotland LK Bennett, and Christian Dior.

For more information, please visit www.questprofessional.co.uk

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