Heat Trace shows its support for National Apprenticeship Week

Heat Trace Limited’s past and present Apprentices took part in the National Apprenticeship Week 2016 Apprentice poster pic campaign to show their support for Apprenticeships.

National Apprenticeship Week participants included Research and Development Technician Mike Gibbons, an Institution member and former apprentice, who took part in the poster pic campaign.

On 16 March, Emilia Hoyle, Marketing Apprentice, gave a presentation to Sixth Form Students at Helsby High School. The purpose of the presentation was to give Sixth Form Students an idea of what an Apprenticeship involved, together with a range of activities and projects completed by Emilia.

The presentation informed students of the benefits of an Apprenticeship, encouraging them to consider an Apprenticeship as an option for both personal and commercial development towards their chosen career path. The students found the presentation very informative and helpful.  Emilia also promoted Heat Trace Limited’s latest Engineering Apprenticeship vacancy starting in September 2016.

Also on 16 March, Dan Berrisford, Heat Trace’s Managing Director, attended a Cheshire West and Chester Council event entitled Influencing your Future where local businesses and council leaders explored how businesses and schools can work together more closely to promote apprenticeships as a valuable path for students. Dan presented on Heat Trace’s experience of working closely with Helsby and Neston High Schools in supporting the schools with employability skills training and the promotion of the apprenticeship route.  Dan was keen to emphasise that Heat Trace had benefited massively from establishing a quality apprenticeship scheme and the interaction with schools had contributed to Heat Trace being able to attract high quality apprentices.

On 18 March, Dan attended Neston High School where he took part in an interview training skills session for year 13 students interested in apprenticeships where he conducted mock interviews with a number of students and provided feedback on their performance. 

Dan said: “Many candidates for apprenticeship interviews perform below their capability because they have not had the experience of an interview process.  It’s great that schools like Neston are pro-actively engaging with the local business community  to provide their students with quality experience to give them that advantage in attaining places on apprenticeship programs.”

Reflecting on National Apprenticeship Week, Dan said: “At Heat Trace we are committed to providing quality apprenticeships for talented local young people.  This led to us being included as a top 100 apprentice employer this year in the National Apprenticeship Service Awards.  National Apprenticeship Week gives us an opportunity to engage with local schools and councils to promote the benefits of apprenticeships to both businesses and to students.  First and foremost we believe in the positive influence that young people can bring to a business and we want to make sure that we provide them with the best possible start to their working lives.”