Chelsea Apps Factory to provide launch pad, development and career opportunities for the industry’s hottest new talent
Greg Hands, MP for Chelsea & Fulham, today launched The Chelsea App Academy – the new recruitment scheme that’s designed to find the UK’s brightest young tech stars and give them their first opportunity in the technology industry.
The Chelsea App Academy will be run by fast-growing tech firm Chelsea Apps Factory to reduce the mobile skills gap that the industry is facing. The company has partnered with five of the UK’s tech-focused Higher Education establishments – Glasgow University, Ulster University, Queens University in Belfast, Kingston University and Brunel University – to uncover, support and nurture the hottest new tech industry talent. It will also be welcoming applications from people who show experience and excellence in tech, but have not entered higher education.
A total of twelve individuals will be selected for their ability and potential, following a series of aptitude and awareness tests.
The successful candidates will then receive a year-long placement in the company’s London, Edinburgh or Belfast Tech Hubs. At the end of the 12-month programme, assuming the candidates have hit their key targets, they will be hired permanently by the firm.
Greg Hands, MP for Chelsea and Fulham, said: “Giving young people their first experience in the workplace is an essential part in delivering a healthy and stable economy. Technology is an industry in which Britain has always taken a leading role in the world, and is fast becoming one of the bedrock industries in the modern UK economy. Chelsea Apps Factory is one of the tech industry’s great success stories and I’m proud to represent it in my constituency.
“I’m especially pleased that with this new scheme the Chelsea Apps Factory team will be helping not only our bright young graduates get on the career ladder, but that they will also be encouraging people without a higher-education qualification to apply. This means that there are opportunities here for talented and gifted people, regardless of their educational history.”
Mike Anderson, CEO & Founder of Chelsea Apps Factory, said: “The UK is a hotbed of technological talent. We easily match Israel, the United States and our European neighbours in terms of ability, ingenuity and inspiration.
“However, mobile software development is an area that is lacking in skills – mainly because the industry is so new. The market is barely five years old. It means that many people coming out of University are set up for a PC - not a mobile - world. So, like our business, the App Academy is designed with mobile in mind. We want to help people adapt their skills so we get the best out of the talent out there.
“Mobile continues to transform people’s and businesses lives, which is why our Academy is so important for unlocking this nascent talent.”