SUBSEA and marine recruitment specialist ETPM is continuing its planned programme of company growth by adding another member to the team through the creation of a new apprenticeship post.
Mia Darby (17) has been appointed to the role of Digital Media Apprentice to enhance and lead on the company’s social media activity. In addition to ETPM, she will provide support across all of the companies in the Ocean Marine Group which also includes Underwater Contracting Ltd (UCO) and Pirie & Smith as well as a sister recruitment company, TrueDental Recruitment.
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“The events of the past year and more have shown just how crucial it is to have a strong, sustained social media presence,” said Jay Smith, ETPM Recruitment Manager. “The way many people have been working remotely throughout the pandemic has in many cases changed how businesses have been interacting with clients and customers. In that time, social media has really come into its own as a way of communicating, sharing information and promoting company opportunities and services.
“Coupled with that, the impact of the pandemic has made it extremely difficult for many young people to enter the job market,” said Jay. “It’s crucial that we identify ways to support this age group and to get them onto the career ladder through apprenticeships and other entry level roles. Creating this new role as an apprenticeship will help us as a company to strengthen our social media activity and supports our commitment to provide career opportunities for the next generation.
“When we interviewed Mia, we were really impressed with her enthusiasm and her focus on what she wants to achieve with social media. She’s already made a huge impact and we’re really pleased to have her on board.”
A former pupil at Mearns Academy, Mia was training to be a beauty advisor before realising she had a passion for social media. ETPM will support her throughout her apprenticeship as she works towards her qualification in Digital Media.
“I feel taking on an apprenticeship will benefit me more than just studying at college because I get the chance to put my knowledge into use in a practical way in a real-life situation,” said Mia. “I’ve had fantastic support since I joined the company. This is a completely new sector for me and I’m really enjoying learning about the many services that Ocean Marine Group provides.
“So many places now look for experience before they consider giving you a job, whereas the apprenticeship is giving the me the chance to gain that experience while working towards a qualification.”
The fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021 has seen considerable growth across ETPM as it puts in place the diversification strategy developed in 2020. That has seen the company respond to change in the industry by increasing its focus on recruitment for the renewables, ROV and survey sectors as well as increasing its global client base in subsea, marine, oil & gas.
In doing so, it has added several new members to the team and, as part of the parent Ocean Marine Group, launched TrueDental Recruitment, a dental recruitment agency based in Aberdeen, which specialises in the provision of dental candidates for practices across North-east Scotland.
Companies in the group have also formed a number of working partnerships in recent months to provide a more comprehensive range of services across different areas of the industry.
