Success for Apprentices

The New Year is off to a great start for four of our apprentices who have successfully completed a two year course through training provider ITEC and been offered permanent jobs.  The four have all joined our 50 strong support team as first response engineers.  Two more young people have been given a place on the scheme which has been running for 8 years and helped more than 20 young people kick off their IT career. 

One of our new recruits is Jack Anderson, the son of our Operations Director Paul Anderson, who started his own career on an informal apprenticeship.  He said "it's shocking that one million people under 25 are unemployed, and businesses have a responsibility to to make sure they are not on the scrap heap before they even get started. Apprenticeships are a long term commitment for us, the business is 10 years old and we started the scheme in our second year. As a successful operation we want to give young people in our region the chance to develop skills and confidence, and get them started on the career ladder.

"It's a good move for them and our business. By constantly adding new talent into our staff pool we maintain the skilled and motivated work force that helps us grow." The scheme which is run in partnership with ITEC, is designed to help the young recruits to learn the business from the ground up, while studying for qualifications. "Although they can eventually move into other areas, the apprentices all start off working alongside experienced engineers in our service team, learning good working practices and combining that with their studies to get the right balance of academic learning and practical skills," he added. "This gives them a bird's eye view of the business and its clients, and stands them in good stead as they progress. Thirty years ago I started my working life right at the bottom, and because there were no formal apprenticeships available to me I put myself through college as well as holding down several jobs. I know the value of a chance like this and the difference it can make, and i'm very pleased to see my own son join our training scheme. "He won his place on merit and there will be no special advantages - not that he expects them - he'll be treated just the same as any other member of the team. As his Dad I'm very proud of him but to be honest he probably sees me being there as a drawback, rather than an advantage."