Work placement opportunities at Clarion Futures

August 14, 2018 / Keith Osborne
Work placement opportunities at Clarion Futures

While good grades in education are a vital part of starting the career you want, some experience of the job you want to do can also be invaluable in highlighting one candidate from others applying for the same role, and here Phil Miles tells us how work placement is at Clarion Futures.

What sort of work placement opportunities do you offer?

Recognising that we have a role to play in plugging the national construction skills shortage and as part of our housebuilding commitment, a key part of the Clarion Futures Jobs and Training offer is our apprenticeship and traineeship schemes. The focus of these is very much on helping to prepare people for long-term employment within the construction industry.

Clarion Traineeships are funded by the business and offered nationally, consisting of industry-related accredited short courses and work placements. We offer traineeships in a range of construction-related disciplines, including multi construction skills, tiling and bricklaying, electrics, dry lining and plastering and Computer Aided Design (CAD). Following successful completion of their course and CSCS qualification, each trainee will undertake a work placement with an appropriate contractor to give them practical industry experience.

How are they organised?

Any Clarion resident who is looking for work and who engages with our Jobs and Training programme will be assigned to an employment support officer, to get them job-ready and find them appropriate employment or training opportunities. It is our employment support officers who will refer suitable candidates for apprenticeships or traineeships.

Building on the success of our own Clarion Futures Construction Training Centre in Tower Hamlets, London, we have built strong relationships with colleges and training providers across the country to make sure our jobs and training programme can be offered nationally.

Are candidates and mentors selected through particular criteria or is it purely voluntary?

Clarion traineeships are particularly suited to candidates who are looking to move into the construction industry but who are not yet job-ready; whether that be due to not having the relevant qualifications or experience or another reason. They can also be a pathway to apprenticeships and are a brilliant way of getting a taste of the construction industry before embarking on a career path, as they offer both qualifications and industry experience. Unlike government-funded traineeships, Clarion traineeships are open to our residents of any age and can be done flexibly, around existing commitments.

What do companies and individuals gain from the offer of a work placement?

The work placement aspect of a Clarion Traineeship offers real construction industry experience and gives the trainee a real taste of what life working in their chosen field will be like. Part of the arrangement we have with our contractors is that every trainee gets an interview at the end of their placement, so gaining a job or apprenticeship at the end can be a possibility.

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