Skills support impacting SMEs

A survey conducted by Cogent Skills reveals that the Science Industry Partnership’s (SIP) SME-led ‘Skills for Growth’ programme has helped pharmaceutical, nanotechnology and synthetic chemistry firms impact on their business performance.

The programme has also helped those in the anaerobic digestion, biotechnology and clinical research sectors, Cogent Skills said.

The [pharmaceutical] sector has faced numerous challenges over the past few years

NonStop Recruitment’s Abid Kanji

Indeed, 73% of the 74 SMEs that took part in the training initiative recorded a high or very high training impact on addressing challenges in their roles, while 69% said that learning input had changed the way they worked.

Bob Redfern, managing director of High Force Research – one of the SMEs involved in the SIP training – said: “As a chemical R&D company whose staff has grown to meet strong demand from customers in Life Sciences, Electronics and Advanced Materials, the Science Industry Partnership’s ‘Skills for Growth’ programme has helped us identify the skills we need to support business growth.”

According to the survey, over half of SMEs said the training programmes resulted in a high or very high impact on cross-skilling and sustainable business growth, while those seeing a moderate or high impact on the challenges in their business totalled 63%.

“The programme has been widely adopted by the science SME community and it’s fantastic to see people returning to Cogent Skills for additional training and support,” said Kate Griffiths, Skills for Growth Manager at Cogent Skills.

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical recruitment specialist NonStop Recruitment has urged pharmaceuticals professionals to broaden their commercial and business skills or face missing out on top jobs.

NonStop recruitment associate director Abid Kanji said: “The [pharmaceutical] sector has faced numerous challenges over the past few years and some firms have, and continue to be, forced into making cuts in order to remain afloat.

“What this means for professionals is that they have to develop much wider skill sets in order to secure the top jobs, of which there are now far fewer. It’s not enough just to have the technical knowledge anymore – firms will expect that as a prerequisite – now they’re looking for that understanding combined with more developed commercial and general business skills.”

According to Kanji, it is an issue that also plagues other sectors.

“It’s a trend that can be seen across the entire business arena. Organisations now want professionals who are much more rounded than in the past and are able to identify potential commercial opportunities even if this isn’t necessarily in their remit,” Kanji said.