STUDENTS from the University of York have set up their own consulting business and taken on work for Yorkshire councils, all in a bid to boost their job chances.

Resourceful third year students Dominic Falcao and Ross Morrison set up York Community Consulting in October last year.

The business is entirely run by students and has already carried out projects for clients including Selby District Council.

The company concentrates on social impact and has 20 active consultants.

It is aiming to double in size during the next academic year.

Dominic has now graduated with a first-class honours degree in politics, philosophy and economics.

He said: “Employers are looking for experience but this is not easy to gain in consulting.

‘‘York Community Consulting is a low-cost, efficient way of improving employability.

‘‘It is an excellent way of proving ourselves and gives us something concrete and positive to talk about at interviews and to show off at assessment centres.”

The project works by letting students offer their time to clients free of charge and in exchange for a chance to get more experience in consulting.

For language and linguistic science student Ben Howe, his work with the Selby project has led to a paid internship with Ripon City Council this summer.

Along with Dan Buchan, Jonathan Lloyd-Evans and Anna Murray, Ben worked on a project for Selby District Council assessing the cultural economy of the town.

They looked at ways of boosting the local economy and ways to improve Selby’s visitor offering, and came up with innovative suggestions to improve tourism quickly and cheaply, before presenting their findings to Selby Chamber as well as town and district councillors.

Their hard work won praise and recommendations from the councillors.

Rose Norris, executive director of Selby District Council, said: “The students worked very hard to produce a report that details their findings and provided a range of creative options for us to consider. We were impressed with their professional approach and won’t hesitate to use them in the future.”