It was a proud day for the team here at Calico UK on Friday 27th September at the Highland Business Awards as we were one of only four companies awarded a Highly Commended status in the Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) category.

Highly Commended Businesses L-R – David Massey Apprentice Store, Kirsty Pryer Calico UK, Manvela Flueckiger Skibo Ltd and James Martin Highlife Highland.

The award was recognition of the time and effort that Managing Director Kirsty Pryer and the rest of the Calico team put in supporting the young in the workplace.

The awards were organised and judged by the Inverness Chamber of Commerce, and there was a high field of entries, especially in the DYW category.

Over the years Kirsty has made time in her busy schedule to support work experience students, paid employment for students, and more recently working with their first Foundation Apprentice through the UHI. Kirsty oversees the students, finding relevant work for them and helping them with tasks that would help them meet their course outcomes.

“I think it’s important to help and develop the young,” said Kirsty. “After all, the students of today will be the ones running Highland businesses for us tomorrow!”

Kirsty is also a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) Ambassador and works to encourage more children, especially girls, to consider a career in IT. She has made presentations to secondary school pupils and engaged them in mock job interviews, and has worked with several secondary and primary schools covering technology topics such as Internet Safety and Online Consent.  At the UHI Kirsty takes part in regular advisory meetings with other IT businesses and IT faculty staff to look at the course content and its relevance in the workplace.