Donna Dainton is head of employer skills at Wirral-based training provider Scientiam. Donna is married and lives in Ainsdale, Southport. This is her working day
6.30am: Alarm goes off and I get out of bed, have a shower and get dressed and have my breakfast – this is always tea and cereal – and I sit down and think about the day ahead.
The main focus of the day is the new Green Energy Training Centre (GETC). The £280,000 centre is a partnership between Scientiam, renewable energy products manufacturer Stiebel Eltron and the Skills Funding Agency.
7.30am: I have an early morning meeting at the GETC with Stiebel Eltron’s managing director Mark McManus.
We are currently offering formal training on heat pumps and solar photovoltaic.
Our courses are BPEC accredited and are open to tradesmen such as engineers, electrical contractors, plumbing contractors and heating and ventilation specialists wanting to improve their skills in green energy and will plug a growing skills gap within the industry.
Since launching our first training course in January, we have experienced a huge demand for the courses and today we meet to discuss the timetable of courses and the financial incentives which we can offer to course attendees.
10am: Back at Scientiam headquarters in Birkenhead. I have an opportunity to check my emails and meet with our financial director, Kevin Moore, to discuss budgets for our trade media and civic open days at the centre.
12pm: Lunch at my desk provides an opportunity to catch up with emails and some work.
1pm: A further meeting follows with Mike Regan, the business development advisor for the GETC, the project manager and our trainers.
Our PR agency is also on hand to discuss the PR campaign and how we can use social media to market our course.
I am delighted to hear we have sold two courses via our Twitter activity.
2.30pm: A further meeting at Academy One, in Liverpool. Scientiam has successfully partnered with Liverpool One to undertake the retail training for Academy One and Liverpool city region. Our key strength in this area is that we can create bespoke training courses to fit the needs of individual businesses.
Today, I meet with Sara Carthy, who is human resources director of Liverpool One, to finalise arrangements for the forthcoming Liverpool One Retail Forum networking breakfast.
4pm: The final meeting of the day is with Mike Poole, of Liverpool Vision, at the Bluecoat Chambers, to discuss the Mary Portas Programme and the skills development programmes we will be running across the Liverpool city region. Academy One will be hosting the Mary Portas Guide to Successful Retailing in areas such as Old Swan and Mossley Hill.
The course contains seven separate masterclasses for Merseyside businesses.
It includes sessions on retail finance and business planning, selling and service skills, visual merchandising, marketing and team building. We meet to discuss course attendance and venue issues .
5.30pm: I head home. This evening is my eldest daughter’s birthday, and my husband and I are going to her home in Chester for supper.
We get back at 10.30 and I get ready for the next day before going to bed.
