National platform launched to showcase best employers for engineering apprenticeships

by | Apr 23, 2024 | Good news

Next Gen Makers has launched a groundbreaking online platform to promote the best employers for engineering apprenticeships nationwide.

The platform is aimed at teachers and school careers advisers, providing them with information and resources to inspire and inform students about the career opportunities engineering presents – whilst enabling effective signposting to the best employers locally to them for those interested in engineering apprenticeships.

You can visit the platform here.

The platform showcases the kind of employers that go the extra mile to deliver a great apprentice experience. Featured within the directory are companies that have achieved the ‘Engineering Apprenticeships Employer Kitemark’ – a national employer accreditation backed by manufacturing organisation Make UK and achieved via the Next Gen Makers Engineering Apprenticeships: Best Practice Programme.

The Kitemark has two levels, the Gold standard ‘Engineering Apprenticeships: Excellent Employer’ status and the Silver ‘Engineering Apprenticeships: Aspiring For Excellence’ status.

Companies with the Kitemark will be joined in the directory by those that are currently ‘Pursuing Accreditation’ and those that are ‘Benchmarking’ and best practice sharing, working towards ensuring their apprenticeship schemes are best in class via the Engineering Apprenticeships: Best Practice Programme.

The platform launch event was expertly held at UTC Leeds in conjunction with the Leeds Manufacturing Festival, which Next Gen Makers sponsor alongside other headline sponsors E3 Recruitment and Leeds City College.

The launch was attended by an audience of manufacturing business leaders and UTC engineering students and was the perfect opportunity to showcase the benefits and opportunities engineering apprenticeships and careers.

Another highlight was an engineering apprentice panel discussion, with the audience hearing from the experiences of Ellie Bamfield of Schneider Electric, Nicole Hirst of AW Hainsworth and Sons Ltd, Thomas Marchant of Brandon Medical, Jake Roberts of Bensons Panels and Jack Little from ACS Stainless Steel Fixings Ltd, along with speakers Hannah Wilson, Adam Tipper, Tawanda Mukombiwa and Mitch Scott.

This launch represents the start of a big, united push to make a difference in inspiring the next generation into UK manufacturing and engineering nationwide by shining a light on best-in-class employers and opportunities.

Andrew Walsh, Production Manager at ACS Stainless – who was in attendance at the launch, commented afterwards: “Great launch, amazing panel of Apprentices”.

Next Gen Makers Managing Director Adam Tipper comments: “With an acute shortage of engineers in the UK, it is imperative that we attract young people to the sector, but also retain them once they start their engineering career via apprenticeships. However, government figures for apprenticeships show that hundreds of thousands of apprentices quit each year, because of a negative experience with employers.

“Engineering and manufacturing cannot afford such a talent drain, so it is imperative that we help companies that are committed to running engineering apprenticeship schemes to understand how to create the best possible apprentice experience within well-structured schemes. In turn, this will help them to retain the talent within their workforce during the apprenticeship and beyond.

“80% of the annual Kitemark accreditation process is based on experiential feedback from existing Engineering Apprentices at these companies. The other 20% is split between benchmarking analysis/ evidence of continuous improvement to the apprenticeship scheme and training provider feedback.

“The Kitemark is heavily weighted towards the feedback of existing Engineering apprentices – because who better to validate an employer for these apprenticeships, than the people who are living them right now. These are the stakeholders that matter most and quite rightly, based on their feedback, we are validating companies as a great place for other young people to start their engineering careers”.

Through the Next Gen Makers Engineering Apprenticeships: Best Practice Programme, engineering and manufacturing companies all over the UK can benchmark their approach to running their apprenticeship schemes against industry best practice, identify where to improve and learn from a community of like-minded firms to share best practice and ideas.

Johnny Mathieson, Early Career Professionals Manager at Siemens Digital Industries comments: “Having the Gold standard ‘Excellent Employer’ status for the Make UK Engineering Apprenticeships: Employer Kitemark benefits Siemens Digital Industries because it validates what we are doing and shows that we are a serious employer of Apprentices and how important Apprentices are to our company”.

Michele Bickerton, People & Development Director at Thomas Dudley Limited, holders of the Gold standard ‘Excellent Employer’ status of the Kitemark adds: “Benchmarking as part of the Engineering Apprenticeships: Best Practice Programme has benefited us because it makes you think about where you are at. We can always think that we are doing the best we can, but when you look at the benchmarking questions and answer them honestly, you can identify gaps. It does make you stop and think, which is a really good thing to do.

“Our apprenticeship Scheme has definitely benefited from the Programme. Because we have benchmarked and we are looking at what we can do better, we are doing a lot more for our apprentices.  If you approach self-reflecting of your apprenticeship scheme via benchmarking openly and honestly it will help you to identify what you are doing well, what you can do more of and what you can do better.

“Having the Make UK Engineering Apprenticeships ‘Excellent Employer’ Kitemark status is more than just using the logo, it also means that we can tell a story. Our apprentices are just brilliant, they work so hard, and they are our future. From an internal point of view, our apprentices and managers can also see that we are getting recognition from it and are committed to it”.