One of the UK’s leading engineering and construction companies – ENGIE Fabricom – has invested in a new apprentice recruitment programme deployed by the country’s major STEM education providers.
This has seen the business – which has five offices across the UK including Grimsby, Immingham, Lowestoft, Stokesley and Middlesbrough – recruit eight new apprentices.
ENGIE Fabricom has worked alongside both Middlesbrough College in Teesside and North Lindsey college, located in the Humber region to develop a process to attract the very best local talent.
The process involved candidates carrying out in-depth at assessments at the Middlesbrough college’s state of the art £100m STEM centre facilities and the CATCH in Stallingborough’s impressive skills centre associated with the North Lindsey college.
Both centres have been designed to bridge the engineering skills gap in local regional hubs and simulate typical authentic industry settings to thoroughly prepare students for the workplace with transferrable skills.
Speaking about the appointment of the new apprentices, Richard Webster, CEO at ENGIE Fabricom said: “We have recognised that traditional recruitment processes are not suitable for appointing apprentices and it is really important that we take on the right people suited to the engineering construction industry that will really thrive with the correct training methods.
“We are delighted with our new processes – which enable us to see first-hand young people who have a natural flair for this type of work – and this new approach marks a real change in the way in which we attract, recruit develop and engage skilled tradespeople going forward. Our in-house career development plans are very robust and we want to have the very best people – to continue to deliver the highest quality solutions that we have become well known for, whilst also providing people with the opportunity to progress throughout the business.”
As part of the recruitment process ENGIE Fabricom shortlisted around 30 candidates from hundreds of applications who were then assessed at the educational centres in a number of team and individual tasks in a range of themes from health and safety, fabrication, teamwork and technical ability and communication.
The eight apprentices selected will now spend the next 10 months in college before joining ENGIE Fabricom at either its Middlesbrough or Immingham fabrication shops stepping into roles as welders, pipefitters, platers and electricians where they will continue on a comprehensive training and development programme with the business.
Speaking about providing apprenticeship opportunities in businesses, Karen Knights, Regional Manager, Northern Skills Group said: “It is great to see businesses such as ENGIE Fabricom adopt recruitment processes which involve utilising world class training centres to offer real-life on the job scenarios to enable companies to identify candidates who are suitable for positions within their businesses. It also gives students the opportunity to quickly identify whether that particular line of work is suitable for them.
“There is a fantastic pool of young talent throughout the country and it is very important that they are equipped with the right skills and practical experience before going into demanding roles. The apprentices with Northern Skills Group the training are of Middlesbrough College will receive the very highest levels of training before they start their exciting careers with one of the major players in the industry, ENGIE Fabricom.”