With National Apprenticeships Week next week, Abdullah Bilal, a first year Make UK apprentice with Hitachi Energy in Stone, has told ALBOS of his experience of being an apprentice.
Abdullah is training to be an electrical engineer, learning about fossil-free electricity and how it benefits different industries. He said:
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed working with my hands: in school I picked construction as one of my options in year eight and nine, before going on to study plumbing in my first year at college and engineering in the second year. It can be difficult to balance work alongside education, so I decided an apprenticeship was a great way to combine the two and earn money while learning.
“I was excited to become an apprentice because it’s really different to a college environment — there are rules, but you are treated as an adult by your employers, everyone respects you and it’s just a really nice collaborative environment to work in.”
As part of National Apprenticeship Week, Make UK is hosting an open day at its Technology Hub in Aston, Birmingham on February 12, from 10am to 2pm, to help young people in Stone and the wider Midlands secure well-paid careers. Attendees can learn directly from employers how to successfully apply for one of over 300 vacancies starting in September, to kickstart high-flying careers despite a difficult job market.
Make UK offers a range of manufacturing and engineering apprenticeships with prestigious companies including Jaguar Land Rover, Severn Trent and Rolls Royce to young people aged 16 and over. Applicants come from all around the Midlands, with residential placements available to those that live further afield. At the open day, attendees can meet potential employers to find out how to make their application stand out from the crow and hear about the wide range of opportunities available across the manufacturing sector.
The open day will include a tour of Make UK’s state-of-the-art facility which boasts the very latest in robotics and digital technologies The tour will be delivered by Make UK’s current apprentices who will explain first hand their career path and progression.
Attendees can discover what it’s like being a Formula 1 car designer by taking part in a practical F1 in Schools activity, to design and build a miniature racing car using CAD/CAM design tools. There will also be welding and tyre change challenges that encourage teamwork.
“The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the job market, particularly for young people and those from less fortunate backgrounds. Engineering is a lucrative and fun industry to enter and the average engineering apprentice at Make UK earns double the minimum apprentice rate of £4.30 per hour for those aged 16-18 and £4.40 for 19 and over,” explained Fiona McGarry, engagement manager at Make UK. “We have a 90 per cent retention rate, which shows how our apprentices go on to build long-term careers with their employers.
“Engineering isn’t just working in a factory. It includes AI, robotics, automation, 3D printing and more. You could put people into space, design roller coasters, break the land speed record or build smart cities. There are even roles in areas that most people wouldn’t think of, like media, TV and fashion,” added McGarry.
National Apprenticeship Week is an annual celebration of the achievements of apprentices across England. This year’s theme is Build The Future and will focus on highlighting the benefits apprenticeships can have on individuals, businesses and local communities.
Abdullah added: “In the first year, we’re mainly training and learning the basics but next year things will move around, we will get day release to come to Make UK’s Technology Hub once a week and the rest will be spent on site with my employer. So far, I’ve done ten weeks of electrics training and worked on many other areas of the shop floor, delivering lean improvements and working on different computer aided design (CAD) tasks.
“Before I started my apprenticeship I wasn’t really interested in electrical engineering as a career but now I find it fascinating. I’ve passed all my BTEC engineering courses, and these are the equivalent of A-levels, so I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved in just my first year.”
To register for the open day for free, visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/make-uk-apprenticeship-open-day-tickets-213709008397.
