02 May, 2018

Cork Institute of Technology Extended Campus together with Career Services invited SMEs to an event held in CIT on April 12th. “SMEs Engage with CIT” was designed for micro, small and medium-sized companies and over 40 companies registered and attended on the day. The event provided SMEs with the chance to explore workplace and recruitment opportunities with students and graduates from CIT. Companies also had the opportunity to meet lecturers and programme coordinators to discover ways they could develop links with CIT staff, students and researchers.

Three SME companies were invited to speak at the event, to share their experience of collaborating with CIT. The event began with John Brennan who is the Director of ePresence Internet Marketing describing how he collaborated with CIT to help recruit work placement students. John spoke about the ease of the process, and the standard of applicants that he received from CIT.

David McCarthy who is responsible for Communications and Client Services at Irish Guide Dogs spoke about his experience of collaborating with CIT through his engagement with the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Management Systems (CAMMS). Mr McCarthy described how he received a certificate in Lean Sigma Green Belt from CIT. CAMMS liaises with companies to help them make improvements using Lean Sigma techniques which results in significant savings to the company. CAMMS have also facilitated many other companies through their Lean Sigma courses such as Glanbia, Laya Healthcare, Stryker and Pfizer. According to Mr McCarthy, “CAMMS not only trained our individual staff, they acted as mentors through the process helping guide us as we found our feet. As an SME having CAMMS as a bolt on advisory service was invaluable.”

Kathy O’ Dwyer who is the Founder and Director of Career Training Internships was the final speaker to talk about the positive impact collaborating with CIT has had for her company. Ms O’ Dwyer spoke about how her company qualified for Enterprise Ireland’s €5,000 Innovation Voucher through the Nimbus Research Centre. This assisted her to explore research and development opportunities and helped to expand the company.

Philip Gillivan, President of the Cork Business Association, was in attendance for the presentations and he met with many CIT lecturers, programme coordinators, SMEs and students on the day. According to Mr Gillivan “As President of the Cork Business Association, I was delighted to attend SMEs Engage with CIT. I was particularly encouraged by the interaction between the companies and students on the day. I am confident that Cork is in safe hands going forward judging by the calibre of students I met from CIT. Overall, it was a very well-organised event”.

To explore how CIT can collaborate with you, email extendedcampus@cit.ie or call 021 4335302.