RDT has signed up to a government-led directive for employers that aims to improve social mobility and workplace diversity. By joining The Social Mobility Pledge – an agreement a business makes that it will recognise the value of candidates from low-income or underprivileged backgrounds – RDT has shown its commitment to helping people gain valuable training and experience regardless of their start in life.
After becoming a Pledge-accredited employer RDT was visited by MP Tom Tugendhat, who met a number of team members, including:
· Apprentice Software Engineer Joe Porter, who told Tom how his work experience at RDT, while he was still at school, led to him joining us on a graduate apprenticeship program
· Associate Software Engineer Sanyam Yadav, who was recruited through our graduate recruitment day
· Software Engineer Adam Page. His Employee Spotlight can be read here
· Luke Frizzell, who was one of our summer interns in 2016 and is about to complete his year in industry with us
Mr Tugendhat, MP for Tonbridge and Malling, also met our IT apprentice Luke Worsley and Shooresh Golzari, who retrained as a software engineer after working as a business analyst.
Mr Tugendhat said: “Spending a day with tech apprentices at RDT was great, and showed me just how much you can learn on the job. They were an inspiring group of different ages and backgrounds transforming the way we live and the way we learn. Their example will, I hope, encourage others to think differently about education”.
RDT joining the Pledge struck a particular chord with Rob Small, one of our software engineers. He told us: “I grew up in Thanet, one of the most deprived areas in the country, so I know how hard it is to drag yourself out of poverty. Pretty much all my old school mates are still there, working in dead-end jobs they hate. If something like this had existed back then I think more of them would’ve had the opportunities I’ve enjoyed.”
RDT is involved in several other initiatives that support our commitment to our community and to elements of The Social Mobility Pledge. We took part in this year’s careers day at Maidstone Girls Grammar School to promote women in technology. We also held workshops for pupils at Wrotham School on gaining a work experience placement, writing CVs and interview techniques. By the end of this summer we will have hosted six work experience placements.
These initiatives would not be possible without the support of the great team at RDT and the sponsorship of our senior leaders. Getting the team engaged in such initiatives allows us to widen our reach and hire from a greater pool of talent.
Our representatives at last year’s Maidstone Girls Grammar School careers day.