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Assured Skills Academies - A fast track to a new career

Assured Skills Academies

If you’re unemployed, under-employed, or want to change career, then Assured Skills pre-employment training can help you. You can join in an academy to get the skills that expanding companies want. You will get a job interview when you finish the academy.

How it works

The Assured Skills programme offers pre-employment training to give you the skills needed to compete for new employment opportunities.  

It works with companies in Northern Ireland that have current job vacancies available and offers pre-employment training to meet the skills needed for those jobs.

If you successfully complete an assured skills academy training programme, you will be offered a job interview with the recruiting company. 

Training allowances

When you're in a training academy, you:

  • will receive a weekly training allowance of £155
  • will be reimbursed weekly travel expenses
  • may be eligible for child care allowance

Current opportunities

Academy Venue Closing date
PwC Professional Services Academy Belfast Metropolitan College  31 March 2023

The previously advertised Financial Services Academy Spring 2023 has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.

Register your interest

To receive updates on new academy opportunities or to find out more about the assured skills training programme, contact the Department for the Economy – Employer Skills Branch.

Jobs secured through previous academies

People who have previously taken part in academies have secured full-time jobs in different areas such as:

  • cyber security
  • data analytics
  • digital skills
  • financial services
  • legal services
  • software development
  • software engineering
  • welding

​For most academies your existing qualifications are important.

Whatever your vocational area, the companies involved in the training programmes want employees with drive and determination to succeed and a positive attitude to take on new challenges.

Privacy notice

To find out how your information will be used, you can view the privacy notice for Assured Skills.

Assured Skills training academy video

To learn how a training academy can help graduates, watch the Assured Skills video.

More useful links

  • Careers
  • Choices after you graduate

Chat with a careers adviser

Careers webchat is available from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm.  Outside of these hours, or if all advisers are busy, you can ask questions online.  Before using the webchat service, read the Careers Service’s privacy notice

 Chat with a careers adviser in Northern Ireland

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Training programmes

  • Apprenticeships
  • Assured Skills Academies
  • Skills for Life and Work
  • The Prince's Trust
  • Traineeships
  • Training programmes available

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