AN ENTERPRISING rec-ruitment agency is setting up a new training division to benefit both clients and jobseekers.

And Draig Personnel has also unveiled plans for an education branch to supply teachers and classroom assistants to schools throughout Wales and the West Country.

As the company title suggests, Draig, or dragon in English, wants to fire up the Welsh recruitment industry with many new ideas.

Managing director Ross Porter, 32, has one ambition: to make Draig Personnel one of the leading suppliers of staff in the UK.

That will mean taking on home-grown giants such as Acorn Recruitment and Training - no mean task.

With offices in Caerphilly, Newport, Ebbw Vale and Merthyr Tydfil, Mr Porter claims to be just months away from setting up a site in England.

It's five years since his company entered the South Wales recruitment scene, and the business now has an annual turnover in excess of 4m.

"It's the hard work of all concerned with the business that has achieved this turnover in so short a time," said Mr Porter.

Since 1999 the company has specialised in industrial, commercial and call centre recruitment, as well as finding senior management and technical staff.

Now, with the set-up of the new training division, Mr Porter is aiming to help his clients maximise the potential of their existing staff, through the achievment of formally recognised qualifications.

"Training is the key to success these days. Without it you don't stand a chance.

"That's why I have initiated this development at Draig to provide the right personnel and meet the extra requirements of today's workplace," said Mr Porter.

"We're going places, and the more qualified the staff are, the better."

The company's new Caer-philly HQ is a stone's throw from where Mr Porter started the business, in a small office above a travel agency.

"We were the first organisation of this type to set up in the town and we have helped, thousands of people into work in this area over the years.

"We love Caerphilly and its people and our headquarters will always be here," he added.