National Apprenticeship Week 2021
From the 8th February – 14th February, 2021, the fourteenth successive annual National Apprenticeship Week will put the spotlight on – and celebrate – the incredible work being carried out both by employers and apprentices across the UK.
The week-long celebration is designed to inspire individuals and employers to inspire other individuals and employers. By sharing stories of apprenticeships they can illustrate how they bring opportunities and positive impacts to all who share in the schemes: the apprentice, the business, and the wider economy. Importantly, the week’s celebrations will go a long way to dispel perhaps negative perceptions and outdated thinking around apprenticeships as a valuable route to success for all, and place them firmly at the heart of modern, and competitive, 21st Century economic thinking.
At Shufflebottom we have been huge supporters of apprenticeships for many years. They are an integral part of our successful business model, demonstrating and benefitting our commitment to the long-term development of our employees and offering our apprentices training designed for their skills’ development and employment security under our wing. For us, it is an investment that has great return as we are gaining, training – and retaining – skilled staff. For our apprentices, it is a life-changing experience. And there are awards to prove it for both us and our individual staff.
Traditionally, we have offered apprenticeships in welding and fabricating but over the last few years we have broadened out so that today you will find trainee and apprentices operating across the whole company – in the office and on the factory floor – involved in programmes including structural engineering, quantity surveying, social media, as well as our original traditional routes.
Numbers count: and currently we have nine people, of all ages, all genders, all abilities, working here at Shufflebottom, with many being supported by our local colleges – Coleg Sir Gar and Gower College. Some have parents who also work with us here at Shufflebottom, testament that we are ourselves are a family-run business with family values at our heart.
Our people count. And so we are proud to celebrate our trainees’ successes from the 8th-14th February and critically, in the years to come. We will be with them every step of the way.
Shufflebottom has been overwhelmingly helpful in every way I could think of. As for career aspiration, I intend to stay at Shufflebottom long-term and progress from a trainee QS to a fully qualified QS and eventually to Projects’ Manager.
Dale