To mark National Apprenticeship Week 2018, Tim Bound, director of Transtherm Cooling Industries, reflects on what organisations can do to help their young hopefuls excel in their studies.
Training your next generation of talent through a national apprenticeship scheme is an ideal way to shape your employees of the future, bringing them through the ranks as they learn your business inside out.
What we have found – which may sound obvious – is that the more effort you put into your apprentices, the quicker they flourish and the more integral they become to your workforce. In other words, by giving apprentices carefully monitored responsibility and exposure across a variety of real-world project scenarios, they’re able to meet the criteria of their apprenticeship with ease. In the case of Tom Sturdy, our current apprentice engineer, they can even achieve it much quicker than the apprenticeship framework expects.
Now nearing the end of his engineering apprenticeship with Transtherm, Tom surpassed expectations during his NVQ3 in Engineering when he accelerated through parts of his course much quicker than his fellow students – an achievement which he puts down to being exposed to complex and interesting projects with strategic mentoring and leadership from senior engineers within the business.
For each project he completed, Tom pulled together portfolios of information for assessment by his tutor, allowing him to demonstrate competencies far beyond what was expected of a trainee at his level.
The result? Tom completed many parts of his apprenticeship a year early, allowing him to move onto his HNC in engineering, which he is due to complete in the summer of this year.
Tom’s progress during his apprenticeship is a shining example of what can be accomplished with such a positive approach to young talent. Transtherm’s all-encompassing approach to training, combined with Tom’s keen mind and natural aptitude for engineering, has cemented the company’s dedication to supporting further young hopefuls who want to learn through the apprenticeship route.
In short, consider apprentices as capable members of your team, worthy of a place on a project team alongside senior engineers. This not only develops the mentoring and leadership skills of your more experienced workforce, but furnishes your young talent with the opportunities they need to exceed your expectations.
