It’s widely accepted that our industry is suffering from a shortfall of new people and has been for many years.
The skills gap is not exclusive to fenestration. Official government figures highlighted that UK wide skills shortages doubled to more than half a million between 2017 and 2022.
A lack of skilled labour has also been singled out as one of the main obstacles facing Labour’s plan to build 1.5million homes over the next five years. Currently, there simply aren’t enough boots on the ground to get it done.
And with such demand, it could be that we will be even harder pushed to attract new entrants to the fenestration sector in the years ahead.
So how about a fresh incentive, one that could attract talented, ambitious young people away from other trades with the promise of prizes, pound Sterling in their pockets and maybe even a glittering career at the end of it?
Believe it or not, WorldSkills, otherwise known as the ‘Skills Olympics’ is an actual thing. Held every two years, the 47th WorldSkills competition is taking place this week in Lyon, with Team UK fielding a combined four-nation team of 31 young people aged between 16 and 24.
Billed as ‘the gold standard’ of skills excellence, it’s an opportunity for the very best apprentices and school leavers to prove their worth and also reflects very well on the training programmes of any employers that have entrants into the competition.
All of which makes me wonder whether there’s an opportunity to host something similar, a competition that’s specific to the fenestration sector with categories for installation, fabrication, glass and engineering.
Entrants could be plucked from schools, colleges or existing training schemes, there’s cash prizes for the winners and an apprenticeship programme with a job at the end of it, for those that want to progress further.
Host it at the FIT Show and the winners can be celebrated at the G Awards later in the year.
It’s just a thought!
Let’s host a Skills Olympics
It’s widely accepted that our industry is suffering from a shortfall of new people and has been for many years.
The skills gap is not exclusive to fenestration. Official government figures highlighted that UK wide skills shortages doubled to more than half a million between 2017 and 2022.
A lack of skilled labour has also been singled out as one of the main obstacles facing Labour’s plan to build 1.5million homes over the next five years. Currently, there simply aren’t enough boots on the ground to get it done.
And with such demand, it could be that we will be even harder pushed to attract new entrants to the fenestration sector in the years ahead.
So how about a fresh incentive, one that could attract talented, ambitious young people away from other trades with the promise of prizes, pound Sterling in their pockets and maybe even a glittering career at the end of it?
Believe it or not, WorldSkills, otherwise known as the ‘Skills Olympics’ is an actual thing. Held every two years, the 47th WorldSkills competition is taking place this week in Lyon, with Team UK fielding a combined four-nation team of 31 young people aged between 16 and 24.
Billed as ‘the gold standard’ of skills excellence, it’s an opportunity for the very best apprentices and school leavers to prove their worth and also reflects very well on the training programmes of any employers that have entrants into the competition.
All of which makes me wonder whether there’s an opportunity to host something similar, a competition that’s specific to the fenestration sector with categories for installation, fabrication, glass and engineering.
Entrants could be plucked from schools, colleges or existing training schemes, there’s cash prizes for the winners and an apprenticeship programme with a job at the end of it, for those that want to progress further.
Host it at the FIT Show and the winners can be celebrated at the G Awards later in the year.
It’s just a thought!
Glass Times
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