DERRY, Ireland (From the Irish Times) -- Bemis is looking to graduates to fill 95 jobs at its new European Business Service Centre in Derry.

In a major coup for the local area the Wisconsin-based firm announced in January it was to establish a base to support its European operations and add to its established healthcare packaging manufacturing facility in Campsie, which employs more than 250 staff.

The company, previously known as Perfecseal, is looking for "motivated graduates" and individuals with HNDs to apply for a five-week academy, which it says will equip participants with the skills required to fulfil business financial service roles in their new service centre. and help them gain industry recognised qualifications in the process.

Successful academy participants will then be interviewed for a full-time position with the company.

Bemis, founded in 1858 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is a major supplier of flexible and rigid plastic packaging for food, consumer products, medical, and pharmaceutical companies around the globe.

Invest NI has offered £695,000 of funding to help Bemis with recruitment and the pre-employment training programme and speaking in January the agency's chief executive Alastair Hamilton said the investment would create "valuable employment opportunities for graduates in the north west across a range of business functions".