TRAINING & RECRUITMENT
MAJOR RECRUITMENT DRIVE
IN-COMMS
OVER 280 APPRENTICESHIP JOBS UP
FOR GRABS AT IN-COMM TRAINING
One of the Black Country and Shropshire’s
leading training providers has more than
280 apprenticeship opportunities currently
available and is urging companies and young
people to get more involved.
Gareth Jones, joint Managing Director at
In-Comm Training, made the rallying call
this week and believes there are still lots
of individuals looking to get involved in
engineering and manufacturing that aren’t
taking advantage of the world class training
centres on their doorstep.
The firm, which operates a technical academy
in Aldridge and the Marches Centre of
Manufacturing & Technology in Bridgnorth
and Shrewsbury, has recently embarked
on a major recruitment drive to showcase
how vocational learning can help bridge the
current and future skills gap and provide
excellent career opportunities for youngsters
and more mature workers looking to switch
jobs.
Over £7m has been invested in the three
facilities alone, offering over 40,000 sq ft of
dedicated manufacturing training space,
including the latest CNC machine tools,
automation, robotics, metrology solutions
and 3D printing.
This is reinforced by access to industry-
experienced trainers and 11 technical
partners, who include Blum-Novotest,
Ceratizit WNT, Engineering Technology
Group, Guhring, Hexagon, HK3D and Hyfore
Workholding.
“Companies are coming forward and saying
they want to invest in apprentices…that
challenge has been overcome to a certain
degree. We now need to make sure that,
as a region, we’ve got a pipeline of young
people or more mature learners to fill them,”
explained Gareth, who runs the business with
his sister Bekki Phillips.
“At the moment we have 280 positions vacant
at our three academies and these are for part
and full-time trailblazer courses with a job
at a local manufacturer at the end of it. This
means you can learn from the best trainers,
on the best equipment and get paid for it,
with a recent partnership with University
of Wolverhampton offering a pathway to
a degree at the end of it – all without the
associated debt that can go with it. That’s a
£100,000 opportunity.
“Current vacancies range from
apprenticeships in machining and
maintenance to mechatronics and welding.”
The recent annual In-Comm Training
Barometer, which is designed to take the
temperature of industry’s appetite for
training, revealed that 83% of firms are still
committed to taking on the next generation
of engineers despite issues around the UK
leaving the EU.
Nearly three quarters (72%) of companies
have already put aside budget to recruit
apprentices over the next twelve months,
with a surprising number of businesses (60%)
stating they feel the Apprenticeship Levy is
working.
Of those that felt the Apprenticeship Levy
wasn’t working, more than half said a lack
of understanding was to blame for a lack of
take-up, followed by 21% who felt the right
training wasn’t available and 13% bemoaning
a dearth of good quality training providers.
The report also highlighted that more
than half of firms (54%) preferred part-
time courses over the full-time option,
whilst two fifths of companies engaged in
apprenticeships don’t use them for upskilling.
This could be attributed to a lack of
knowledge of what apprenticeships can be
used for or the stigma still attached with
this type of training and the notion that
it is usually reserved for young people or
someone at a basic skills level.
For further information, please visit
www.in-comm.co.uk or follow @
incomm_training on twitter.
Issue 38 PECM
203