CJAM’s Marketing Director, Lucy French, was invited to join the Colchester Digital Skills Group in 2015, following her participation in an innovation workshop from the Creative Colchester Board to determine the skills and support needs of Creative & Digital Industries in north Essex.
The digital economy is rapidly expanding outside London, and Colchester is one of the fastest growing towns in Britain, with more than 3,500 people employed in the creative industries.
With a strong desire in Colchester to grow the Digital and Creative sectors it is clear there needs to be both the right business environment as well as the necessary skills base. Working closely with other local businesses and teams at the Employment and Skills Unit at Essex County Council and the Essex Employment and Skills Board, a Digital Skills Action Plan for Colchester has been developed.
The Group identified some challenging and achievable targets for activity including raising awareness of the sector, ensuring training providers recruit staff with appropriate skills and ensuring relevant traineeships, apprenticeships and internships. All stakeholders, including CJAM, help set some realistic yet ambitious targets around such things as delivering an employer led curriculum, increasing apprenticeship numbers and producing informed careers information.
This Digital Careers Fact Sheet is the first output (we hope of many) to help support young talent in Essex and support our growing creative and digital presence nationally. We are proud to be a part of it.
