We take a look at some of the latest news on careers and the industry jobs market across Wales.
Major recruitment drive in North Wales
A partnership between Flintshire Council and its strategic housing partner, Wates Residential North is creating many new trade jobs for local people, to work on housing projects across the county.
Wates is taking the lead and now working in collaboration with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and Coleg Cambria to bring employment, apprentice and work experience opportunities across all building trades.
Among the projects currently requiring new recruits is a development of 24 new homes for the council in Dobshill. The council’s Strategic Housing and Regeneration Partnership (SHARP) programme aims to bring 500 new build homes across Flintshire. Wates’ own Building Futures and Flintshire Council’s Communities for Work and Communities for Work Plus programmes have already brought numerous construction industry trades career opportunities to local people.
Paul Dodsworth, managing director for Wates Construction North, commented: “Throughout the course of the past four years our team has worked tirelessly to fulfil our commitment to build high-quality and affordable new homes, doing so while continually investing our time and resources into employment and training for Flintshire residents.
“The difference that this is making to the lives of local people is fantastic. I myself started my career as an apprentice brickie and I look forward to seeing even more local people join our team and take those exciting first steps in their careers in construction.”
Students’ housebuilding challenge from Lovell
A recent event hosted by Lovell in South Wales provided local students with a challenge to build a mini wooden house as they learned more about the skills needed by the construction industry.
The Cardiff City Stadium was the home to the housebuilder’s Apprenticeships Work! event for Year 10 and 11 students, sixth formers and college students. It was an opportunity for the young people to meet the Lovell team, including some of its current apprentices, to find out about the kind of jobs available in the industry, and what it feels like to learn trade skills while earning money from working on a live building site.
“It was fantastic to meet so many students excited by the prospect of a career in the industry at the Apprenticeship Works! event,” said Nicola Murray, Lovell’s project skills coordinator. “Encouraging young people to understand the diverse opportunities which construction offers is crucial to bring the next generation of construction professionals into our industry.
“For Lovell it’s also about investing in the community by creating training opportunities and jobs in the places where we build. We had a lot of students interested in work experience placements with the company which is a great way of finding out what it’s really like to work in the sector.”
Lovell has supported and trained 22 apprentices in South Wales over the past two years and is looking for another three graduates and two apprentices, along with trainees, over the next six months.
Young Welshman becomes top plumber
A young man from Caerphilly has taken the top prize at the grand finals of this year’s HIP UK Heating Apprentice of the Year competition.
Now considered the UK’s top plumbing apprentice, 19-year-old Lewis Blakely beat competition from across the UK at the two-day event in Cheltenham to win the title, a cheque for £1,000 and a large collection of professional tools and equipment.
He is currently studying a Level 3 plumbing diploma at Coleg y Cymoedd’s Ystrad Mynach campus. His win also bagged a £1,000 prize for them. His college learning is complemented with onsite apprenticeship experience for Aberdare-based, Blue Hill Facilities Management.
Blakely said: “Going from the Welsh heat to the final was a huge step in terms of the difficulty of the challenges and level of ability tested. My tutors and employers were very supportive. Winning the competition has really boosted my confidence and I’m excited to continue my career in plumbing. I’m hoping to become a full-time gas-engineer once I finish my apprenticeship and I think that this award will help me immensely.”
Lee Perry, plumbing lecturer at Coleg y Cymoedd, commented: “We are immensely proud of Lewis. Winning the awards is a huge achievement and is testament to his talent, hard-work and dedication to his profession.”
Women’s career project gets CITB funding
The Career Changers – Women into Construction Project, by Encon Construction, has succeeded in getting funding from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).
Encon is partnering with a number of other organisations in the sector, including Cardiff Community Housing Association, the Home Builders Federation, Glamorgan Construction Training Group, Chwarae Teg, and Acorn Recruitment, for a project aimed at tackling the industry skills shortage by attracting more women into a construction career.
It’s a two-and-a-half-year programme which will provide free organisation and unconscious bias training as well as mentorship for 50 women. One of its focuses is on helping support those changing careers, and those employing them, to implement flexible working arrangements as a further step to bringing talented women into the industry.
“I can’t wait to become a mentor and hopefully help other women to fulfil their career goals by sharing my knowledge and experience from 20 years in construction,” said Antonia John, business development and CSR manager at Encon.
Phil Woodward, Encon’s managing director, added: “We are the first SME in Wales to have been awarded a CITB commission, and I am thrilled to be working on such an inspiring project that has the potential to transform the way the industry works, and the lives of all who engage with it.”
Project management student an awards finalist
Nia Jones has been named as a finalist in the in the Intermediate Learner of the Year category at the Vocational Qualification (VQ) Awards 2019.
Under the guidance of Cardiff-based ALS Training, the 18-year-old from South Wales is currently one of just three Level 4 HNC Apprenticeships in Project Management with engineering giant Arup. She is combining study at Cardiff Metropolitan University with onsite experience as a member of the team managing a major railway improvements scheme across Wales.
She is no stranger to awards, having been named Construction Student of the Year 2018 when studying Construction and the Build Environment at Cardiff and Vale College. She is already standing out for her leadership qualities and skills in Stakeholder Management and Project Communications on her HNC course.
Minister for Education Kirsty Williams said: “Vocational qualifications provide a broad range of quality training for learners and a supply of skilled workers for employers, bringing in new ideas which can help businesses evolve and innovate. The VQ awards are an opportunity to celebrate the skill and commitment of the learners, trainers and employers who are raising the bar in the field of vocational qualifications.
“It’s important we recognise these achievements and to be shortlisted is fantastic, so well done to all the nominees!”
The national event for Wales has four categories – VQ Intermediate Learner of the Year, VQ Higher Learner of the Year, VQ Trainer of the Year and VQ Employer of the Year – and is organised through a partnership comprising the Welsh Government, the National Training Federation for Wales (NTfW), ColegauCymru/CollegesWales, Qualifications Wales and the Education Workforce Council.
It is now in its 12th year, taking place at the National Museum Cardiff on Wednesday 15 May.
Report shows poor careers education in Cardiff
Redrow Homes is calling on the government to help dramatically improve careers advice after a survey it conducted found under half of young adults in Cardiff received ‘useful’ information and guidance while at school.
Over half of respondents (56%) said better careers advice in schools would encourage more young people to pursue apprenticeships – but only 6% would consider a career in construction due to continuing outdated misconceptions about what working in the industry is like.
The housebuilder, which has already taken on 208 apprentices and is offering a further 80 new vacancies for both office and trade roles, looked at attitudes to apprenticeships among 16- to 21-year-olds and their parents in the Welsh capital. It saw that just 13% of young adults felt they had benefitted from high-quality information and advice on the range of career options available, and that 19% felt the opportunities offered by an apprenticeship had been given to them at school.
With only one quarter of those questioned even hearing about the construction industry as a possible option, over a third saw it as requiring mainly manual labour on a building site.
While 56% appreciated the benefits of the ‘earn while you learn’ over full-time study, 44% believed that a better starting wage for apprentices would encourage more young people to consider it.
For parents, the vast majority (82%) also saw the early opportunity to bring in a wage and gain some financial independence at a young age as a positive, but although more than a half had discussed apprenticeships with their children, only 12% had discussed the possibility of working in the construction sector
Like the young respondents, many perceived the industry to provide little variety in career opportunities and expressed the opinion that better careers information from schools and government, together with better pay from the start, would help attract more youngsters into the industry.
Karen Jones (pictured), HR director at Redrow, commented: “With Brexit sharpening concerns that the construction skills shortage will deepen, it is more important than ever that we reach out to all young people, and ensure they are educated in the different career paths that construction can offer.
“While it is fantastic to see more parents discussing apprenticeships and careers in construction with their children, the story begins in schools, where educators are providing advice and information to our young people.
“Despite the Baker Clause coming into effect and putting pressure on schools to give training providers and colleges access to secondary school pupils, it is not clear that the impact of this is trickling through and having a positive impact on the education and skills these routes can provide.
“A greater level of government intervention is needed here. As well as providing more financial support to apprentices themselves, the government must take a stricter stance on schools failing to make sure young people are aware of all the career options available to them.
“Our industry still has more of a job to do in terms of communicating the benefits of apprenticeships, where these are financial in terms of avoiding university debt, or employability. Hopefully, our findings can act as a real catalyst for change.”
The report concluded in a number of recommendations: the government helping schools to provide better careers advice; additional bursaries to apprentices for travel, equipment and materials; clearer information of some of the benefits of apprenticeships over degrees; better profiles of senior female role models; reforming apprenticeships to focus on applied Maths and English skills; and centralising all live apprenticeship opportunities as UCAS does with higher education.
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