Promac Group has recruited two new apprentices to its in-house engineering and customer support team.
With National Apprentice Week 2017 on the horizon (6-10 March), the company has appointed Daniel Foster and William Gilsenan to its apprentice programme.
Joe Hague, managing director, Promac Group said: “We know how important people are to our business. We’re as much a service provider as we are a supplier of machinery.
“The competition out there for enthusiastic, skilled and committed people is fierce. Apprenticeships offer us a way of not only recruiting the very best people for our organisation but also equipping them through formal and on-the-job training, to support us in offering our customers exceptional service and support.”
Joining the business in the autumn, William aged 17 and Daniel aged 18, admitted that their introduction to the business had been accompanied by a steep learning curve.
Daniel said: “It is pretty daunting when you come in. I joined straight from sixth form and had no real background in engineering.
“But you get to know the basic principles quickly. Once you get hydraulics and pneumatics, everything else really builds off that.”
William and Daniel, will each complete a four-year programme including class room based theory as well as its practical training, before qualification as fully-fledged Promac technicians.
William explained: “Ours is a four-year course but you can also extend that to six-years and longer to come out with more advanced qualifications.
“It’s quite a lot to get your head around initially – I came in straight from college – but you pick things up and I’m really enjoying it.”
According to government statistics, engineering apprenticeships remain the single most sought after and highly valued of all apprenticeships offered in the UK.
Since the beginning of summer last year, more than 650,000 young people have enrolled nationally in training schemes, while in the last academic year 899,400 signed-up, up 3.2% on 2014/15 and the highest number on record.
Employers say that qualified apprentices are 15% more employable than those with other qualifications. Government stats also suggest that apprenticeships boost productivity to businesses by on average £214 per week.
