Applus RTD spots young talent
20/02/2012
Applus RTD CEO Iain Light and Regional Director Neil Hannah recently presented Crystal awards at a special celebration event to 12 apprentices who had successfully completed a four-year ECITB (Engineering Construction Industry Training Board) programme. Alyson Morrow, HRD for Applus RTD North West Europe, is closely involved with the whole programme and also took care of the special celebrations, where the apprentices and their families were given a ‘time to remember’. Also present for the celebrations were clients, the ECITB (including Scottish Regional Chair John Mellon and his wife) and the Forth Valley college representatives (where the off-the-job activities were undertaken). The apprenticeship programme was such a success in fact, that a second intake of 20 enthusiastic young people has just been recruited.“With the first intake of 12 apprentices,” says Alyson, “we ourselves learned a lot about creating an optimal programme. The result is that we have now developed a model that suits both us and our clients, and every two years we plan to recruit more people to assist with our succession planning in areas such as ANDT and engineering etc.
“We were very impressed with the level of talent we encountered, and it was clear from the interviews that the candidates were desperate for an opportunity to prove their worth. The most common story we heard was that of multiple applications and no opportunities. All of this made the selection of the right candidates for the programme a very difficult task, because we would have liked to have been able to give them all a chance.”
“Our demographic,” continues Alyson, “is ageing and investing in talent for the future is a critical business decision for Applus RTD. We have opportunities all over the world so we need to invest in bringing fresh talent into our company… and retaining it. We therefore believe the best way to get exactly what we need is to ‘grow our own’, and we are now doing this in partnership with the ECITB. They are highly supportive and flexible in their approach to our training requirements. As such, we have decided to commit a significant investment in the apprenticeship programme, as for us it is an investment in our future.
“We have now recruited a further 20 apprentices and they are currently undertaking their off-the-job training and will be on-site next summer. They will subsequently be deployed at our sites across the UK, with a rotation for those who see their challenges as lying further afield, in Stavanger, Norway, for three months during years 3 and 4.”
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