About
Leidos is a science and technology solutions leader working to address some of the world’s toughest challenges in the defence, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and healthcare industries.
Requirement
Leidos UK wanted to strengthen their graduate and apprentice recruitment and training programmes. The goal was to identify skills gaps within the organisation while ensuring any new early-in-career hires were given the best possible start and subsequent growth opportunities. They also committed to ensuring that their talent schemes remain current and reflective of future and evolving demands of the business.
Solution
To facilitate this, the organisation partnered with La Fosse Academy, taking on 37 associates and aligning La Fosse Academy’s mission with Leidos’ own objectives, including:
- Democratising access to tech careers: La Fosse Academy aims to increase diversity by making the course 100% free for students and therefore equally accessible to people from all backgrounds. This attracts a diverse pool of talent, which customers like Leidos UK can use to build strong future pipelines of tech superstars.
- Closing the tech skills gap: The La Fosse Academy curriculum has been designed to focus on techniques over tools, producing agile-minded associates who are commercially ready and able to adapt to the evolving demands of both the businesses they work in and technology as a whole.
Result
Creating a pipeline of talent tailored to meet their specific business needs meant that Leidos no longer had to be reactive in the way they scaled their teams. We have created career pathways to ensure that there is a continuous development programme in place, with the option for them to make the Academy associates permanent at the end of the two-year placements.
We were able to give them fast access to talented people across a huge range of specialisms – from Systems and Engineering to Development, DevOps, and Testing. We set out the training programme so that the senior team at Leidos knew exactly what to expect and when to expect it. This took away the element of surprise and unpredictability that can often be associated with outsourced training.
Leidos now looks forward to seeing how their new associates grow within the company, with a view to expanding the partnership with La Fosse Academy in future to become a primary source of high-quality talent for the next generation of technology professionals.
Testimonial
“We are proud of our work in partnership with La Fosse Academy that is helping us radically address skills and diversity needs in our tech teams while giving these young people a fast track for success in our company and their wider careers. La Fosse has actually become part of the work that we’re doing because they understand our business model and what we’re trying to achieve. It really does feel like a partnership as opposed to ad-hoc outsourcing.” SILKA PATEL, LEIDOS UK