As we approach our 15th birthday at Nine Twenty, I clearly remember our first day, and the small Ikea desk waiting for me in Wendy McDougall’s spare bedroom in her home in Cleveden Drive! Nine Twenty was born out of a passion for the industry, striving to improve our sector, and offering opportunities for people to grow and succeed. It’s been one of the best and also the hardest things I’ve done! There have been lots of ups and downs; however, I’ve always tried to maintain those underlying values in the business of caring, innovation and passion for what we do.
So what does our next chapter bring? Following Karen Stewart’s appointment in 2015, not only has she built a successful business within the Nine Twenty Family, but she’s has introduced Nine Twenty to the manufacturing and engineering sector, collaborating with our technology recruitment history and transforming us into a leading industry 4.0 recruiter for Scotland. We have a huge opportunity to innovate, evolve and create new business in Scotland, and with a clear skill shortage we need to take responsibility and showcase, educate and guide kids to make the right choices.
I firmly believe in trusting and investing in people who care and have the same values and work ethics as I do, and the Nine Twenty family continues to grow with Nine Twenty Engineering, Nine Twenty Assured and Nine Twenty Technology, all developing and creating new and innovative recruitment solutions to their bespoke verticals to help our businesses grow and flourish.
Like a lot of businesses, we really want to try and make a difference, and our recent project is fast becoming our best yet! We want to take our passion to the next level and genuinely make a difference. We feel we have the drive, the know-how and the network to build a model that can inspire young people to work in the manufacturing, technology, engineering and digital industries.
Following Karen’s idea to give back and create a platform for kids to understand the future of our employment market, we are extremely proud to have created Insp-Hire. Insp-Hire is an initiative geared towards targeting parents or guardians of children and young people (aged 4-14) to learn about industry 4.0 and how this will impact their children. Technology is moving at such a pace that education is now lagging behind, and we want to educate and inspire families to look at the future job market and what the required skills in that market will look like in the new era.
We’ve put together an amazing event in conjunction with our friends at SmartStems to be hosted in GCU on Saturday 14th September for parents to come along with their children and be inspired together.
We have inspirational speakers including Gillian Docherty from Data Lab, an amazing interactive exhibition space with virtual reality, digital twinning, 3D printers, Microsoft Partners, Games companies, electric vehicles and more, plus 10 workshops where both parent and child can interact together to in activities such as learning to solve a cyber security attack, coding Lego and building your own Fitbit. We’ll also have a Routes to Success area which shows the different paths you can take to reach your goals along with soft skills sessions.
This event is free of charge and a great day out for families. This is Nine Twenty’s give back this year and we couldn’t be more excited or proud. There has never been an event like this for parents and we believe that this can really make a difference to the young people coming through the education system. Of course, we couldn’t do this without the help and support of SmartStems who have been fantastic in helping us to organise the event while adding a creative edge, along with GCU who have kindly donated the venue.
Find out more here