The Story of Success Series is brought to you by the Enterprise and Engagement Team at Canterbury Christ Church University to provide information and insights into the support available to local businesses and entrepreneurs.

Your organisation can recruit our talented students and graduates, commission research or consultancy to drive your business goals, hire our specialist facilities or event spaces, or collaborate with us to grow your business.

The first in the series of successful business outcomes looks at Alideck (a local SME) and their successful recruitment of James Wills (a recent Digital Media graduate of Canterbury Christ Church University) into a specialised graduate role at the organisation.

AliDeck is a successful manufacturing business located in Rochester with decades of experience in the outdoors living structures industry.

Alideck recently collaborated with the University to recruit a ‘3D Artist & Animator Graduate’ to sit within their Marketing Department. When asked why they decided to reach out to us, Alideck said it enabled them “to go straight to the leader of the most relevant course, for the highly specialised opportunity”.

AliDeck believes James has been a great addition to the team and of great value to the business. They emphasised how James has helped the organisation to revolutionise its marketing, increase output, and develop high-end visualisation. For AliDeck, James has been crucial in demonstrating what they can offer and ultimately, has helped land significant clients.

“We have started making 3D Visualisations for clients, to show them what our products would look like installed in their properties – this has proven quite popular. I have also started to relieve pressure on my Manger and taken on light video editing and motion graphic duties” (James Wills, Digital Media graduate of Canterbury Christ Church University, 2021)

One project success that stands out was James’ production of technical “explainer” videos, which showed the “function and interoperability” of AliDeck’s products. All of these tasks are very specialised and because AliDeck were able to recruit from a discipline who had taught James using the latest software and techniques, it has allowed the business to be current, and more competitive.

James’ appointment has also meant that Alideck’s website, social media and print marketing has been revolutionised. As a business, evidently the benefit is multifaceted; for example, not only does it raise the company’s profile, but it also adds a level of “credibility and authority” when liaising with stakeholders. Alideck states that “James has been instrumental in getting some large sales over the line worth hundreds of thousands of pounds each, as well as many non-financial benefits such as confidence in the Marketing Department and providing assurance that we are able to create high-end, high-quality artwork to underpin campaigns.”

Regarding the collaboration process with University, AliDeck expressed how simple it was and how they were able to discuss their tailored, specific requirements, making the process extremely focused and allowing the candidate matching process to be seamless.

“By reaching out to the university for potential candidates, we were able to really articulate the qualities we were looking for in a person and draw on the faculty’s experience of their students to match up recent graduates best suited to the role.” (Alideck, 2021)

Had Alideck gone through a traditional recruitment and selection process, it would have taken unnecessary time, energy and resources to find their perfect candidate. Instead, they sought out the expertise and support of the University and found a graduate with the suitable qualifications and skills in a fraction of the time, without the unnecessary use of business resources.

Based on the feedback from Alideck, it seems that not only has James provided much needed expertise through pioneering the 3D/CGI artwork and animation for the business, he has also become a valued member of the team, bringing contemporary academic skills and knowledge to the business, and ultimately improving its efficiency. Alideck no longer need rely on contractors to produce artwork on a project basis, as, through creating James’ role this can be done with speed and agility in-house and at a lower cost to the business.

If you want to find out more to how Canterbury Christ Church University can help support you and your organisation, please email us at: b2b@canterbury.ac.uk and follow us on LinkedIn or visit our website.