A digital intelligence firm has won the prestigious Princess Royal Training Award through partnering with Aston University.
Majestic.com, who supply link intelligence data to the digital marketing industry, were one of a small selection of companies that were commended for their outstanding training and skills development programmes and their ability to generate exceptional commercial benefits.
The company, based in Birmingham’s Innovation Campus, were chosen as one of 48 winning companies for their innovative and rigorous training scheme for talented students.
As part of the scheme, students spend a year of their university course working with Majestic in a busy, professional, software environment. There, they pick up valuable programming skills and experience that can turn them into highly sought-after software developers.
John Richards, Director of Industrial Research Partnerships at Aston University said: “We are delighted that Majestic have won this prestigious award, which reflects the close strategic partnership we have with the company, across research, graduate recruitment and curriculum development, as well as their significant contribution to the development of the Computer Science Industry Club. We are really looking forward to supporting Majestic’s future growth in what is an exciting innovative field.”
The training scheme is also used as a vehicle for possible recruitment when the students go on to graduate from Aston. Since 2012, 100% of graduates recruited in this way have been retained by the company. This innovative method is allowing the company to compete with the biggest players for the brightest recruits in the IT industry.
The scheme involves delivering real software tools that Majestic’s customers expect to use seamlessly, so the expectations of the students are high from day one.
“We expect a lot from our students, but we give an enormous amount in return,” says Steve Pitchford, Director of Operations, “Right from the start, we explain the difficulties and challenges of our work – and the standards we expect students to reach.”
“Those who are the most driven see the potential to propel their careers further and faster than they could anywhere else,” says Pitchford.
The link intelligence Majestic supply is essential for success on Google and other search engines – and is in high demand. The firm currently sells to over 120 countries worldwide via online subscriptions.
“In effect, we provide a ‘link map’ of the internet that helps ecommerce companies and digital marketers to identify and develop business partners and opportunities – whether they sell physical products or online services.”
For Majestic, the partnership with Aston University makes perfect business sense.
“We invest a lot in providing top-notch training and after about 6 months with us, students become commercially productive. That means they become a valuable part of our team,” says Pitchford, “and when we are recruiting developers, we have a natural stream of talented potential applicants that are familiar with the company and what we do.”
Aston University and Majestic have become powerful partners, and the two organisations have been collaborating on recruitment, placements and research and development projects for a number of years.
Aston set up its computer science Industry Club with Majestic as a founding partner. The club is an exclusive partnership programme that offers companies profile raising activities amongst Aston’s students, as well as opportunities such as guest lectures and tailored support in finding the right graduates for the company.
The Computer Science Industry Club has been such a success it is now being replicated across the University in other disciplines.
“One great bonus is that high quality developers find high quality opportunities with Majestic – and that keeps the talent here is Birmingham,” says Pitchford.
