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 global companies that have current job vacancies available and offers training specifically tailored 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.
Current opportunities
The training academies below are open for applications.
Financial Services Academies - Belfast and Londonderry
If you're a graduate, or an experienced professional with at least a 2:2 in any degree discipline, and interested in a career in Financial Services, specialist training is now available.
The FinTrU Financial Services Academies offer six weeks training in areas such as:
- compliance
- legal
- risk
- operations
- know your customer (KYC)
- consultancy
You will receive practical, real world training on:
- capital markets
- financial markets
- compliance
- organisational skills
No experience is needed.
If you successfully finish the training, you will be interviewed for a job.
How to apply
There is a Belfast academy and a North West academy:
Apply online by 17 June at:
Enterprise Transformation Academy
If you're a graduate, or an experienced professional with at least a 2:2 in any degree discipline, training opportunities are now available.
The nine-week training will take place at Belfast Metropolitan College, e3 Campus, offering training across a range of areas, including:
- business analysis
- project management
- javascript
- ITIL
You can also gain an industry-recognised certification in the service management software 'ServiceNow'.
The skills you gain on this comprehensive training course will prepare you to work with experienced teams within Deloitte and help solve complex problems using a mix of technical, critical and innovative thinking skills.
No experience is needed.
If you successfully finish the training, you will be interviewed for a job with Deloitte.
The academy will start on 5 August and finish on 4 October.
How to apply
Apply online by 28 June at:
Digital Engineering Academy
If you're interested in a career in digital engineering, specialised training opportunities are now available.
The nine-week PA Consulting Digital Engineering Academy will give you the skills and certifications to become a digital engineer and become proficient in:
- Java
- SQL and HTML/CSS/Java Script
- building REST API’s
- building Java Web Applications
- using Spring Boot
Training will take place in Belfast Metropolitan College, e3 Campus, week commencing 5 August.
If you successfully complete the training, you'll receive an interview with the company and a potential offer of full-time employment with a starting salary in the range of £25,000 to £27,000 per annum.
Applying to the Digital Engineering Academy
You must have a degree in any discipline or Level 5 Qualification in an IT-related discipline to apply.
You can apply online at:
The closing date for applications is 4.00 pm on 28 June.
The selection process will include:
- an online psychometric assessment
- CV sifting
- an interview
You will need to upload your CV and proof of qualification.
Successful applicants will be invited to attend an interview with PA Consulting week commencing 22 July 2019.
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
Previous graduates who have taken part in academies have secured full-time jobs in diverse areas such as:
- data analytics
- human resources
- financial services
- legal services
- export sales and marketing
- software development
- software testing
- software engineering
- cyber security
- 2D animation
- game development
Your existing qualifications are important but, whatever your vocational area, the companies involved in the training programmes want employees with the drive and determination to succeed and a positive attitude to take on new challenges.
Training allowances
When you're in a training academy, you:
- will receive a weekly training allowance of £150
- will be reimbursed weekly travel expenses
- may be eligible for child care allowance
Privacy notice
To find out how your information will be managed, 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.