Midlands recruiter Regional Recruitment Services has launched a new recruitment training academy. The first six trainees began the 12-week training programme, which includes four weeks’ on the job experience, earlier this month. 

Michael Clapton, Regional Recruitment Services’ operations director, told Recruiter: “We want to have the best new talent in the recruitment industry.” Clapton says the new academy will help the company achieve its goal of being “the agency of choice” in each sector in which it operates.

The technical & engineering, industrial, sales and commercial sectors recruiter received 400 applications for the programme, said Clapton, from which 40 were selected for two initial assessments days. These were designed to identify individuals with the company’s “key behavioural traits” of tenacity, passion, emotional intelligence and attention to detail, he explained. 

Clapton said the company intends to have four intakes of trainees a year, with the aim of increasing staff from 33 today to at least 50 by the end of 2013.