Polaris Telecoms

Telecommunications solutions provider Polaris Telecoms has recruited a new apprentice as part of its growth strategy to meet increasing demand for the firm’s extensive range of VoIP, telephone services and carbon neutral ‘green minutes’.

For 18-year-old Charlie Hazel, the apprenticeship has proved to be a valuable route into work. “Six months after leaving college with a diploma in sports sciences, I still couldn’t find a job,” he says. “I found out about apprenticeship schemes online, and within three weeks of my interview with Polaris Telecoms I was offered a place as an apprentice and am excited about the work and the opportunity to gain professional IT qualifications.”

According to Polaris Telecoms co-founder and Director Don Magee, it was Business Link Adviser Tony Barritt who planted the seed that the best option to expand the existing close-knit team was with an apprentice. “Much of our growth to date has been serviced with outsourcing to expert suppliers,” explains Don. “Taking on a new employee is a big commitment for any business and, having discussed the options face-to-face with our Business Link adviser, choosing an apprentice was the right move for us.”

Headquartered in Loughton, Essex, with offices in London and Cambridge, Polaris Telecoms provides business communications solutions including VoIP (voice over internet protocol) and standard phone systems, broadband, business mobile packages and video-conferencing, as well as a range of other telecoms products and services. Polaris Telecoms is also a reseller of Gamma Telecom’s carbon neutral ‘green minutes’. “Our clients include national and international businesses, small firms and public sector organisations such as schools,” says Don. “The ’green minutes’ market is growing rapidly, especially in the public sector, and our fast growth was straining resources.”

A chartered accountant and former financial director of a global Japanese insurance group, Don launched Polaris Telecoms in 2004 with his wife Christina when he spotted that VoIP was set to become the industry standard telecommunications solution. Despite his strong commercial background, Don recognised that running a start-up small business required different skills to running a global insurance company. So he attended Business Link’s skills workshops and networking meetings. “It was at a Business Link networking meeting that I first met Tony,” says Don. “A few days later he visited and we discussed our business plan and marketing strategy. Having that totally impartial and independent input into our marketing plans was of huge benefit and included valuable leads.”

Although the expert advice to create the ideal solution for each customer, backed up by installation and servicing, was a key reason for Polaris Telecoms’ rapid growth, it also had the potential to hold the business back. Business Link’s Tony explains: “Customers select Polaris Telecoms because it takes the pain out of choosing, implementing and running a communications solution. But that level of service is labour intensive and Don’s team had finite resources that might become stretched with further growth. An apprentice was a potential long term solution.”

Through Essex-based provider ITEC Learning Technologies Ltd, Don recruited Charlie as a Level 2 IT User apprentice on a 12 month-contract. Tony, via his colleagues in Business Link’s Information Gateway, supplied Don with templates for all the paperwork an employer must put into place when recruiting an employee, such as employment contracts, holiday policies and performance management processes. And just before Christmas, Charlie joined the Polaris Telecoms team and is working towards a Level 2 Diploma in ICT Professional Competence, by assisting in the re-development of the company website and researching the business applications of social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
 

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