Alex Turner meets JAYNE WORTHINGTON, MD of Scientiam

THE aim is pretty straightforward: “The more successful I make the business I work in, the better opportunities we can offer to the people we work with,” said Jayne Worthington, who last month took charge of training provider Scientiam.

“That has been a continuing thread through my life.”

Then a reflective pause, before she asked: “Do I sound like Dorothy? I am not a goody-two-shoes.”

But the yellow brick road theme is something of a constant. Scientiam’s work is centred around helping people get into work, whether that’s through training, reskilling, apprenticeships or employment opportunities.

“I got into the work that I do to make a positive difference,” she said. “It’s so clichéd and it always makes me sound like an idiot, but it’s true.”

Her enthusiasm for her work grew out of her own experiences growing up on a Birmingham council estate, although originally she wanted to be a war correspondent.

She said: “The grand plan was to go into the media. I was hooked by a community arts organisation which ran a project that was giving kids cameras to go out and take pictures.

“For them to give you an expensive bit of kit, they were very trusting.

“As I went through, I decided that was what I wanted to do.”

Her studies took her to Wolverhampton, where she completed a HND in design communications, media production and business studies, before working “for a very brief period” at Pebble Mill, the BBC’s Birmingham studios.

“I thought ‘Oh dear, I’m not sure I want to do this’. It was quite a cosseted world, quite a selfish world.

“My mum’s a community worker, I had a background of that and I thought what could I do to make a difference.

“I ended up working with a group helping unemployed people in Halesowen in 1991. We had lost the steel and everything – it was an important time. To work with people and see how moving into work was life-changing for them was great.

“I also ran a youth group because I thought – and I still firmly believe – that being given skills and opportunities is life changing, particularly for those people who are in difficult circumstances.”

One person she was able to help early in her career still ranks as her proudest achievement. She had returned from 18 months living and working in Ibiza, and became a retail assessor at WTM Training, in Birkenhead.

“When I was there, CEWTEC [Chester Ellesmere Port & Wirral Training and Enterprise Council] ran its first learner of the year awards.

“There was one guy, Alan, who was at rock bottom. He was unemployed with a wife and two young children. He was just a placement to start with, working in a shop, but he just rose to the challenge – and won the award.

“Seeing him stand up on stage there with his wife in just a few short months was amazing. He went on to become deputy manager, then manager of that store. That, for me, was an incredibly proud achievement.”

Her career has come full circle – via setting up a social enterprise, Pentra Services, then working on employer engagement in the further education sector before landing a policy job at the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA).

Her role as skills and employment strategy manager saw her seconded to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills for two days a week to brief ministers and write speeches.

“It was a fantastic, really fantastic, learning experience,” she said.

But the change of government led to the demise of the regional development agencies, which meant she had to look for her next challenge.

Ms Worthington said: “I wanted to get back to delivery and delivery that had social benefits. I was incredibly fortunate that I got offered the job at Scientiam really quickly.”

Wirral-based Scientiam, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary after being set up as a legacy programme from CEWTEC, has diversified into a wider range of work-based learning from its original focus on apprenticeships for young people.

“The value of good skills training cannot be underestimated,” she said. “Better skills mean a more motivated and able workforce that critically can drive a more efficient, profitable company.”

The skills agenda has remained a high priority despite the recession, in stark contrast to the last slump.

“In my previous role at the NWDA, our research showed that businesses have acted very differently than in the last recession, when it was cut jobs, cut training, slash and burn.

“During this recession, businesses were much more aware of keeping staff on their books and the value of training,” added Ms Worthington.

Scientiam provides commercial training “for all levels of staff from shop floor workers to directors” across the range of sectors.

Its major projects include retail skills shop Academy One and the Green Energy Training Centre (GETC).

She said: “We decided we would invest about £150,000 in fitting out Academy One, which will be a top- notch training facility and a mock shop training the retailers and leaders of tomorrow. As a company, we thought that was really important.

“Often, public money gets thrown at lots of sectors but not retail. In Liverpool city region, it’s one of the biggest – if not the biggest – employment sector.”

The low-carbon economy is targeted as being a key growth sector for the city region, and GETC is at the forefront of plans to make that a reality.

“It’s about skills conversion – for example, a plumber can convert their skills and be a part of it. We help to give them the tools to succeed in those markets.

“I just loved the concept of the GETC. It presses so many buttons. It’s a partnership with a private sector company, Steibel Eltron, we get machines which are fresh out of R&D in Germany. Colleges just don’t have the money to keep up with capital investment, but the partnership with Steibel Eltron means the people training now will be ahead of the game on the latest in green technology.”

Scientiam, which is a not-for-profit company, remains heavily involved with apprenticeships, and Ms Worthington believes they will become even more popular – and important – in the years ahead.

“I have got an absolutely fantastic staff team that are a pleasure to work with and are committed and loyal,” she said.

“We are practising what we preach. We have got a fair few apprentices – they are vibrant and they get what we do, they really get it. About 25% of our workforce have come through apprenticeships and we like to see them move up through the ranks as well. We really do believe in growing our own.

“Apprentices are a really good opportunity. People often talk about skills escalators, and it can be a trite phrase, but apprenticeships do offer that and we need to help them exploit that.

“One of the really compelling things about apprenticeships is we can take people who are NEET [not in education, employment or training], who are disenfranchised and disengaged, we can build their confidence and skills and then source an apprenticeship.

“They go on an apprenticeship programme and can convert that into an advanced apprenticeship. There is also talk of a level four or level five qualification, equivalent to a degree.

“As an individual, you are qualified, with experience of work, you get paid while you do it, and you are not trailing a student loan behind you.”

Setting individuals, and companies, off on that yellow brick road is what still drives her today.

She added: “It’s all about giving people opportunities and giving them the support to exploit it.”