S3 ID design, manufacture and supply niche safety, security and productivity systems used in hazardous areas such as offshore and onshore oil and gas vessels. This highly specialist engineering firm integrates bespoke radio frequency tag technology with hard wearing protective castings from their Rotherham-based workshop. The 3.5 million turnover business also delivers ongoing technical support and maintenance for customers at remote locations all around the world.
The majority of S3 ID’s 25-strong team are engineers. These technical roles are widely understood in the sector as hard to fill, with specialist skills in great demand, leading to a highly competitive marketplace when it comes to talent attraction and retention. By working with RISE, S3 ID has been able to innovate their recruitment practices and take a more creative approach to building their team.
In February of this year University of Sheffield graduate Adam Wilson was matched with S3 ID through RISE. Since joining the team, Adam has transitioned from the Development Team and is now working directly with the product engineers on the workshop floor. Adam has recently travelled independently to Norway where he represented S3 ID to approve the operation of a new personnel tracking system for an offshore vessel.
Elaine Errington, HR and Finance Director at S3 ID, said: “It’s no secret that the UK engineering sector is suffering from a nationwide skills shortage and this is felt with particular pain in a niche sector like ours. We are fortunate that we operate in a region with two reputable universities and the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, all of which play a critical role connecting students with industry.
“For these highly technical roles you can’t just pull in an engineer off the street. RISE is helping us to identify those all-important transferable skills. We really understand the value in that, so will invest the time to train the very best graduates we are matched with in our specialist technology. Our business plan is to bring people in early and give them the experience they need. Through our apprenticeship schemes and RISE graduates, we are building engineers of the future.”
With their confidence bolstered by the success of Adam’s appointment, S3 ID are creating more graduate roles, and working with RISE to find the exceptional candidates needed to fill these technical positions.
Collaborating with the RISE programme has been a fantastic experience for Marjolo. Not only have we had access to expert recruitment services, but it has also put us at the heart of the Sheffield business community and raised our profile with some seriously talented graduates. This greatly aligns to our business model and we couldn’t thank the RISE Team more for helping us to become an employer of choice
Matt Wilding, Chief Operating Officer
Marjolo
