Can’t find a trainee

[frisbee]

Too Drunk to Funk said:

Surely he can sell the business rather than find someone to take over. The 2 apprentices I've known often got the crappy end of the stick work wise and left after finding their employers wouldn't up their wages after they qualified.

A head full of knowledge about to retire and some worn out tools isn't worth much.

[Countdown]

We're in the process of recruiting 2 Finance apprentices. On the plus side we're getting two really enthusiastic people who will train up to full CCAB qualification. For them the benefit is that they'll get a proper qualification, they'll be in a proper structured training plan covering all the bits of Finance on a 3/6 month rotation, and at the end of it they should be looking at £30k+ jobs without any student debt.

It does require a fair amount of investment (in terms of time) from Managers and there's an awful lot of hoop jumping thanks to the Govt and the ESFA. In fairness I can't see why a one-man band would bother with an apprenticeship, there's a lot of cost and no real benefit. We are a national organisation so we've got the time to spare in training people up. One of the other reasons we're doing it is because of the 0.5% extra tax we're paying; this is a good way of recouping some of that money.

[Not-The-Messiah]

The problem is society I believe over values academic jobs. If you are a hard working intelligent young person it's just expected that you will go to university and its seen as beneath them to go into a trade.

Sadly it ends up leaving the less hard working and less intelligent ones going into apprentices. Which makes it hard not just for the apprentice but also the employer especially if it's quite a technical job.

I had an apprentice will me for around a good few months and sadly the lad just wasn't up for it. He was reliable turned up and worked hard most of the time but technically just couldn't manage it. No matter how many times you showed him how to do something he just didn't take it in. And it just got to the point I gave up trying and started to lose patience and had to say I couldn't have him with me anymore which was a shame because he was a nice lad.

[kurt535]

Dindoit said:

Whilst the anecdote reads like an opportunity to have a dig at the youth of today, it's worth noting that it’s virtually pointless learning the ins and outs of fixing an analogue TVR in an automotive world which is increasingly digital and disposable.

Have a look what they are up to down at Bicester heritage

[anonymous-user]

frisbee said:

Too Drunk to Funk said:

Surely he can sell the business rather than find someone to take over. The 2 apprentices I've known often got the crappy end of the stick work wise and left after finding their employers wouldn't up their wages after they qualified.

A head full of knowledge about to retire and some worn out tools isn't worth much.

Exactly. You can't sell someone the right to work for themselves, they can do it anyway. If the information in his head is so valuable then he can sell it by teaching...

[untakenname]

My first job out of school was at a garage, I could see there was no progression beyond earning over £20-25k a year (that's what the workers in their 40's were on) and there wasn't any glamour to the job so went to uni to do a degree which was in a completely different discipline to what I do as a job now.
In a way I wished I stuck at a trade as I spend most weekends under my car but they say don't do what you love as a job as then it will become a chore so perhaps it's best that way.

[BruceV8]

A few months ago I took my car to Nigel Sandell in Isleworth. Not only did they do a great job with marvellous service at what I thought was a very reasonable price (in RR/Bentley terms), but I was really pleased to see that he had a couple of apprentices who were learning the trade. Its good to know that there are young lads out there who will put in the hours and work, and old fellas who want to pass on their knowledge.