Our industry needs young people

Chris Ashworth, General Manager at City Electrical Factors and a Director of EDA with responsibility for Apprentices, is on a mission to encourage the industry to recruit and train youngsters.

The Government’s recent announcement that new digital apprenticeship vouchers will be introduced in 2017 is another step in the right direction for youth training and has brought an end to a two-year debate on apprenticeship funding. This announcement comes on the back of a 2015 statement when the Government committed to the creation of three million apprenticeships by 2020.

The electrical industry has long been a strong supporter of youth training and schemes like the apprenticeship system and for many it is seen as the lifeblood of the industry. The news that the Government is continuing to encourage support for the training of young people is therefore a very positive step.

But it also begs the question of whether we should be doing more to help ourselves. National Apprenticeship Week, which took place in March, highlighted the benefits and importance of apprenticeship schemes – but while the issue was highlighted, the question still exists as to whether companies in the UK are really taking notice of this call to action and implementing schemes of their own.

Take responsibility

For many businesses the thought of taking on an apprentice or a young trainee can be daunting due to concerns regarding the time and resources that the process could involve. But despite these obstacles it is important for businesses to realise that a training scheme would not only benefit their own business; it could also have a positive impact on their local economy. In short it is an investment in the future of the industry, the people within it and the places in which it operates.

Being part of an industry is not just about selling products to customers; it is about making sure that particular industry continues to grow. Part of that responsibility is therefore about ensuring that the next generation are trained to a level which will allow them to continue to take the industry forward.

Many companies in our industry already show a huge amount of support to the next generation; for example, in February Super Rod and Klein Tools distributed tool kits at CEF branches to over 1500 JTL electrical apprentices as part of a five-year investment, worth over £1million. It is this type of investment that the industry needs.

But apprenticeships are just one route into this industry and as we embrace the need for training, more opportunities have opened up for young people. Embracing this need is something that CEF has taken very seriously and it is this which set into motion the launch of our Aspire Training Programme.

Aspire is a two-year graduate training programme which focuses on turning talented individuals into future business leaders and throughout the programme they gain an insight and understanding into all aspects of the business from managing to manufacturing. But this isn’t just a theory based programme because it incorporates a huge amount of hands on training – including spending three months on site with an electrical contractor so that they gain an appreciation of how the businesses of our customers work.

Participants in the programme are also encouraged to participate in external training such as the EDA (Electrical Distributors Association) product knowledge training modules, and as a result have achieved recognised qualifications such as City & Guilds.

The skills that these young people gain are ones which will last them a lifetime and will undoubtedly help them to move the industry forward over the coming years. Some have already progressed within the business to new roles, including that of branch manager proving not just that our commitment to training is well placed, but also that young people are showing a real commitment to an industry that is supporting them.

Time to change

The Government is driving forward a number of initiatives to raise the quality of training for young people, including making the term ‘apprenticeship’ a protected legal term with the same standing as GCSE, A-Level and Degree.

Our industry Charity, the Electrical Industries Charity is also actively supporting young people by launching an Apprenticeship Support Programme and Bursary Scheme which CEF is providing financial support for.

This type of support from all areas points towards the fact that it is time for our industry to fully embrace the idea of training the next generation of young people so that we can pass on our skills and knowledge and harness the contribution they could make to the future of the business.

For businesses, cost and resources are a huge factor in any decision and for many SMEs the cost of training is often thought to be prohibitive. But if training the next generation is a key focus for the Government, then it should also be a focus for everyone in the electrical industry.

www.cef.co.uk