Engineering Apprenticeships - Looking to the Future
There’s a long and proud tradition of apprenticeships in the engineering sector. In fact, the very word ‘apprentice’ seems to conjure up an image of a young person learning the job on the factory floor in many people’s minds. So we’re delighted to be focusing on helping to create a number of brand new engineering placements in the forthcoming year, in partnership with One Hull.
One Hull’s objective is to “bring together the public, private, voluntary and community sectors to create a better city – working collectively to achieve important goals and improve the quality of life for local people.” Having received £38m of funding from the government’s Working Neighbourhood Fund, One Hull is working with Hull City Council to create a series of initiatives to tackle issues associated with worklessness, particularly in response to the economic turndown. One of these initiatives is entitled the Grow project.
The creation of engineering apprentices is just one of the objectives of Grow, and we’re proud to be a key part of it. With Hull College Group as our training provider, YHATA has been tasked with creating new funded apprentice placements in this sector in the forthcoming year.
Benefits
The YHATA model already brings together potential employers and prospective candidates from the age of 16 upwards (there’s no upper age limit on this particular initiative), and creates a vocational training programme that delivers important benefits for both parties. Whilst employers create the skilled workforce for the future, apprentices gain a vocational qualification and vital work experience during their placement.
And through the Grow scheme, we can make this model even more cost effective for employers in the engineering sector. So, as long as employers sign up before June 2011, both the apprentices’ salaries and training costs will be fully funded until the end of March 2012. This is a fantastic opportunity for employers to develop their workforce without financial risk, especially in these uncertain economic times.
We’re hoping to place 30 candidates in engineering apprenticeships through this initiative. We’re really excited about the fact that, if we succeed, this time next year, these new apprentices will have achieved a level 2 NVQ in Engineering, as well as having gained valuable work experience in their chosen field.
So we’re already talking to employers about matching the right candidates from our database with their apprentice profile criteria. Of course, we need to ensure that candidates are suitable for the placement and demonstrate that they’ve got the potential to acquire the skills involved in this profession. Once that’s done, we can get apprentices started without delay, so that both parties can begin to reap the rewards at the earliest possible opportunity.
The future’s bright
Hull has a great history of engineering, and a bright future in the sector, particularly in the exciting field of renewable energy. We know that apprenticeships work, especially in this sector, and that this initiative could very well be the vital first step for many young people into what we hope will be long and fulfilling careers in the region.
We’re glad that we’re able to do our bit, by supporting the Grow project, in creating real opportunities for the engineers of the future.