As you may already know, Veritas’ Assistant Director Elfie Burgess was featured in The Times yesterday as a shining example of a graduate who found a great career after completing the GO Wales Graduate Academy. Veritas’ first employee, Elfie was offered a permanent contract here after completing a work placement arranged by GO Wales.

GO Wales is an organisation managed by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, and is funded by the European Social Fund and the Welsh Assembly Government. It aims to improve economic growth and employment in Wales by encouraging the most promising candidates to stay in Wales. It does this by improving career advancement and training opportunities for graduates, through the provision of paid work placements, and graduate training.

Many graduates find it difficult to find work after university, because of the catch 22 situation they find themselves in: Nobody will give them a job because they don’t have experience, but they cannot gain the experience they need without an opportunity to prove themselves.

Here at Veritas, we pride ourselves on our support of this organisation, and our dedication to continuing professional development. We think it is important to nurture talent, and offer internships and work placements, helping the linguists and project managers of tomorrow get their foot in the door of the translation industry.

We also support our local university and schools, giving talks to promote the study of languages (which is declining at an alarming rate in the UK). We started ‘Language Weeks’ in a local primary school, which encourages children to learn a new language. The children even greeted their parents at the school gate in Chinese during Chinese Week! In our work with the university, we supervise translation skills labs and lend support to the European MA course. We provide students with a realistic experience of the translation industry, and help them to develop the skills they need to succeed in this competitive industry.

Elfie really proves that schemes like these work, and is a vital member of the Veritas team. We’re very proud that she works here! Veritas is committed to its staff, and we know that with the right encouragement and training, they will lead us into even greater success in the future.

LAUREN WEBB