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The National Skills Academy for Retail goes live later this year, centred on a skills shop network. The Source at Meadowhall is set to be one of its leading lights.
From its stylish wood and metal exterior to its inviting high-tech interior, the Source oozes 21st Century business cool. But this £5.5 million training, development and conference centre a coat-hanger's throw from Sheffield's Meadowhall Shopping Centre is hot indeed when it comes to retail training.
The Source operates one of the country's most successful retail skills shops. Since it opened in 2003 it has trained more than 1,000 people of all ages and backgrounds in every aspect of retail, helping 174 Meadowhall retailers to recruit appropriately trained staff. Once the Source is united with England's 26 other independent retail skills shops later this year under the new National Skills Academy it will be among the NSA's flagships, showing just what can be achieved for a community within a national network.
The Source is locally run to meet local needs, as all NSA skills shops will be. Established as a charity, this is a public-private partnership with board members from the city council, the LEA, the community, British Land and Meadowhall itself, guided by a steering group of retailers, schools and community representatives.
In the Source's IT learning centre, lecture theatre and two dozen PC-packed rooms, Director Ann Cadman and her team of several dozen tutors - all experienced ex-retail managers - have been working mini miracles for Meadowhall stores.
`What we do is give our retailing community exactly what it needs - keen, knowledgeable, committed recruits with good customer skills,' says Ann. Instilling confidence is the key to creating first class retail recruits, she insists. `Quite a few of our students arrive with very low confidence, some afraid to look you in the eye. When they leave here they communicate properly and give customers the personal service that makes them want to come back.'
Their intake includes 14-16 year-olds from Sheffield schools, who attend a one-day-weekly Young Apprenticeship Programme that includes work placements in Meadowhall stores. For many, completing the course is just the start of a rewarding relationship with the Source. When they begin retail careers Ann's team can give work-based learning, taking them from NVQs up to a foundation degree in retail management, launched this year with Sheffield College and Sheffield Hallam University.
To date, more than 400 youngsters have benefited from this programme. `When they come here their eyes light up with the possibilities,' smiles Ann. `By the time they leave they're so well prepared they hit the floor running in their new jobs. They're familiar with retail surroundings, they know about merchandising and stock control and they have that crucial self-belief.'
For adults the Source runs hugely successful Retail Preparation Courses in partnership with local communities. These individually-tailored programmes transform retail rookies into raring recruits. Ranging from two weeks to three months, the courses cover everything from customer service and product knowledge to personal presentation...no chipped nail varnish here.
The Source even guarantees them job interviews at the end with Meadowhall stores - but such is the clamour for skilled people it's a guarantee they can deliver easily. `Retailers constantly ring up asking if we have any trainees ready,' says Ann, `and if so, to send them along as soon as possible!' Impressively, her team can even train new recruits for the specific needs of individual stores.
So far, 368 adults with no previous qualifications have gained nationally recognised Level 2 and 3 NVQ qualifications via the Source, benefitting stores including Debenhams, Primark and Next.
There are also personalised Skills For Jobs courses for unemployed people or those returning to work after breaks, as well as Train To Gain programmes aimed at retail employees wishing to boost their skills in everything from distribution and warehousing to customer service.
Another much-praised course has trained more than 60 autistic people for retail. Somehow, the Source even finds time for fund raising events for local and national good causes, including Barnardo's and Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind.
All this is possible because of the close relationship it has forged with Meadowhall's 270 stores. It means students can be learning retail in the classroom one minute and practicing it the next "over the road" on shop floors via trainee placements.
To enhance its hands-on training the Source is developing its own simulated retail environment, with real tills and stock so that trainees can practice everything from merchandising to the ancient art of folding clothes professionally. Such "mock shops" will be key features of many of the NSA's other skills shops.
`We've had excellent feedback from local retailers, also our students and the wider community,' says Ann. `Ex-trainees often ring up to tell us they've been promoted or that they're now managers. That's what it's all about.'
Retail student Smeera Ali's view is typical of many Source trainees: `If I hadn't done this course maybe I wouldn't have known what I was doing. Being at the Source has made me more comfortable and approachable to others - and more reliable.'
The Source's biggest fans are the retailers it serves. `We've had three or four students in and they've all been a credit to themselves and to the scheme,' says Toymaster store manager Tom Evans. `These guys are great.'
Meadowhall director Mohammed Dajani says the Source has been invaluable. Its stream of trained recruits has helped Meadowhall to an enviable level of customer service: this was rated as "excellent" by 90 per cent of shoppers in a recent survey.
He praises the Source for enabling individuals to gain qualifications whilst at work which, in many cases, has enabled them to ascend the career ladder more rapidly. `The Source is all about enhancing individuals' ability and unleashing their aspirations,' he says. `This in turn helps our retailers offer the highest possible customer service standards, which ultimately has an effect on everybody's bottom line.'
In 2006 the Source was voted National Training Venue of the Year, just one of many awards it has claimed. Ann Cadman believes that once it joins the NSA network it will make even stronger progress.
`It means we'll be able to benchmark our success against other skills shops and learn from each other,' says Ann, who is also a member of the NSA shadow board. `That's one of the many great things about the NSA. It means that together we can raise the quality of retail training nationwide.
`Without the NSA it would be very difficult for retail to meet the standards it needs. The benefits to customer service will be incalculable - I'm terribly excited about it.'