Bridging the skills gap

A few weeks ago, I highlighted the efforts of a Devon based manufacturer that had developed a scheme to attract local talent, after struggling to recruit enough new apprentices.

The company in question had introduced ten-week ‘bootcamps’, designed to offer a taste of working life to T-level students from Exeter College – including the incentive of some money at the end of the course.

I asked at the time whether similar ideas, to directly engage with young people in higher education, had been successfully trialled by companies operating in the glazing industry, and as it turns out, they have.

HWL Windows has recently forged partnerships with Leeds City College and University Technical College Leeds, following support for the Leeds Manufacturing Festival.

The fabricator now runs ‘manufacturing treks’ where students are invited into the factory and have the opportunity to gain ‘hands-on’ experience. HWL has also committed to creating a new training centre and student classroom on site.

According to HWL, the scheme has been ‘massively successful’, especially compared to traditional recruitment channels, which in the words of operations director, Phil Gray, tend to ‘scrape the bottom of the barrel’ for people who ‘don’t want the role’.

Instead, Phil adds that by partnering with local colleges, HWL has given a route to students who have already shown an interest in engineering but might not have otherwise considered a career in manufacturing.

You can read the full story here.