Dealer group Peter Vardy has appointed another six young enthusiasts to the firm's acclaimed Rookie Academy.

It has taken on three youngsters at its Land Rover dealership in East Tullos, one at its Jaguar dealership in Lang Stracht and two at its Vauxhall dealership. All are from the Aberdeen area.

Candidates for the Rookie Academy, which finds and supports ambitious talent across the group, face tough competition, with hundreds of hopefuls applying for the posts available.

The most recent six candidates have no background in sales but come from the public sector, retail, entertainment and oil and gas.

Peter Vardy recruitment manager Jade Hazard, who is involved with the 'rookie' programme, said: "Already this latest batch of recruits to the academy are showing great promise and will be a great credit to the programme which is providing so many quality jobs.

"The Rookie Academy was established in December 2011 as a group-wide programme to seek out people with fresh ideas and a genuine commitment to customer experience, regardless of age and often with no previous motor industry experience."

The programme is run in conjunction with Edinburgh Napier University and leads to an executive certificate in professional selling.

Nearly a third of Peter Vardy's sales force are now graduates of the academy.

The academy is based at Peter Vardy’s head office with the majority of training programmes delivered in the dealerships through individual project work, virtual classroom training, formal classroom training and via e-learning modules.

New sales 'rookies' receive an initial three months of training with regular refresher programmes delivered throughout their career within the business.