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For many years there has been a concern within the industry that the lack of apprenticeship schemes is the main cause for the skills shortages which we see today.
Commitment from the industry to change that situation has been slow, but one company, who has taken the bull by the horns, is Trend Control Systems with the launch of their Attitude Apprenticeship Scheme which won the Judges Special Award in the 2008 Building Controls Industry Awards.
From the beginning
For many years Trend and a good number of Trend partners have recruited and trained apprentices, providing them with qualifications, product training and hands-on experience, but the realisation that more is needed to be done to fill the skills gap prompted the launch of the Attitude Apprenticeship Scheme in 2007.
Jon Cooper, Customer & International Sales Support Director for Trend says: "It was no big secret that the industry was suffering from a lack of skilled engineers and in order to fill that gap we realised that we needed an all encompassing apprenticeship scheme which would put young people on the road to a successful career in the building controls industry.
"The previous schemes which we had run within the company were not really meeting our requirements or those of the industry and therefore we needed a long-term solution."
The solution came in the form of a generic scheme which saw Trend working side by side with their Trend Technology Centre and System Integrator Partners to encourage young people into the industry with the promise of a proper apprenticeship scheme which worked hand in hand with formal educational qualifications. Jon says: "It became clear that the only way to make this work would be to collaborate with our Trend Partners to set up a scheme which would be of benefit to them and to Trend. By working with our partners and helping them to employ apprentices into their businesses it would be of great benefit to everyone involved in this industry."
All systems go
At the beginning of 2007 Trend got the go ahead to move forward with the scheme, and got commitment for 47 Apprentices. (7 based in-house at Trend and 40 to be employed by Trend Partners). The next major task was to find the right people for the job, or people with the right Attitude. Jon says: "Despite the fact that most of the apprentices would be employed by our Partners, we had committed to recruiting and screening potential candidates and supporting our Partners through every step of the process."
The recruitment drive resulted in 500 good quality applications from candidates who met the minimum criteria as set down by Trend. From there 300 of the candidates took part in an online test for literacy, mathematical ability and commitment, the results of which defined whether or not they were invited to attend an assessment day.
Jon says: "From the very beginning we made it quite clear that this was not just a Trend scheme but an industry scheme and therefore when we invited the candidates to attend the assessment day each of our Partners was given the opportunity to interview the candidates they were interested in. By facilitating the recruitment process we were displaying our commitment to making the scheme work and providing good quality candidates for our Partners to choose from."
The successful candidates took up employment in September 2007 at which point Trend assisted their Partners in ensuring that each apprentice gained a place on a relevant educational course which would provide the vocational qualification alongside their on-the-job training.
Jon says: "This proved to be a major problem for us because there is no specific BTEC or NVQ qualification in building controls and therefore in many cases we had to select the closest match for consistency across the scheme.
"Thankfully that is about to change as we now have a specific NVQ with a BMS framework which has been approved by the Building Controls Industry Association and will hopefully be in place in colleges by September this year.
"Through this we now have a qualification which is specific to the industry and meets the needs of the engineers - which is great news for the industry. From the very beginning we wanted consistency and for our apprentices to work towards the same qualification - through this new NVQ we feel that we can achieve this."
Moving forward
The first year of the scheme has been such a success that for 2008 Trend has a commitment for 77 apprentices (5 of which will be employed directly by Trend and 72 by their Partners). Jon says: "We are delighted with the first year of the scheme and feel that we are finally meeting the needs of the industry by providing a means to train the engineers of the future.
"We have learnt a lot in the first year and will be able to apply these lessons in the future, for example we have changed the way in which we provide Trend specific courses. In the first year we provided training for all of the apprentices at the same time but quickly realised that it was more relevant to some people than others due to differences in age and skills range. Next year we will provide two training courses for everyone and then let our Partners decide which further courses they would like their apprentices to attend.
"I think that the scheme has had a benefit to the industry as a whole. In the past it has been common practice for other companies to poach apprentices as soon as they have finished their training. Now we are seeing more of a move towards a provision of training throughout the industry and we have been approached by a number of companies who would like to replicate the scheme within their own organisation."
And finally
The scheme has clearly been a success for all concerned; for Trend because it will provide them and their partners with a highly skilled workforce and for the apprentices because it is providing them with a firm career path into a fast growing industry. The fact that it won the BCIA Judges Special Award further demonstrates the fact that the industry recognises the commitment which Trend is putting into training. Jon says: "When we launched this scheme it was as new to us as it was to the industry and therefore we had nothing to benchmark ourselves against. By winning this award we have gained recognition that we are moving in the right direction.
"Just about everyone within the company is involved in the apprenticeship scheme in some way, whether it is through the recruitment process or by having an apprentice in their department, and it is good for them to gain recognition from the industry that their efforts have been worthwhile.
"This award will also prove to be a benefit to the whole industry because the recognition of its success will hopefully prompt other companies to move towards implementing similar schemes to help close the skills gap before it is too late."
The difference which an apprenticeship scheme of this type will make is huge. Not only will it help to fill the skills gap but it will promote the benefits of working within the building controls industry to school leavers who would otherwise be completely unaware of what we have to offer.
With the shift towards energy efficiency, more and more companies are seeing the benefits of installing a building management system and without new people entering the industry there will come a time when we are simply unable to meet that demand. This should therefore provide a lesson to us all that in order to continue to grow this industry and manage the demands of the future we need to start now by attracting young people into what promises to be a very exciting industry to work in.
