Carl Bennett, Founder of Tradeskills4U, looks at what makes the company’s 4 Steps apprenticeship training programme unique.
Most electrical contractor businesses in the UK comprise of five employees or less, and often one contractor and a mate. The thought of training an apprentice when there are so many other things that need your attention is, for many, simply pie in the sky.
While many contractors will support the idea of apprenticeships, the reality is that if the apprentice is on a standard training program, they can (for the first couple of years at least) be a drain on your time and energy rather than an asset that frees you up to concentrate on the important parts of your business.
I’ve spoken to thousands of contractors over the 16 years that I’ve been running Tradeskills4U and one thing that has always struck me is that while most contractors start out with the idea of running a business with a small team, over time they’ll stop acting like a business owner should.
Instead, they turn into employees who simply pay themselves, running around like headless chickens just to make a living, and never quite making enough money to achieve the goals that having your own business should give you. Does this sound familiar ?
How do we fix the issue?
At TS4U the apprenticeship training programme we’ve designed and launched is intended to enable a small contractor to employ an apprentice, regardless of age.
Because we front-load the practical skills and knowledge training, the candidate is more likely to be real asset, quicker, so you can give them proper responsibility to complete jobs using their trained skills and knowledge at the beginning of the programme.
The process is easy to manage with TS4U’s close support and delegates are typically individuals who’ve backed themselves to start a new career, so are committed and motivated.
Developments in apprenticeship funding for adults means we’ve been able to design our 4 Steps training program so that it maps to the route that TESP (The Electrotechnical Skills Partnership) recommends.
The programme is unique in that it enables people of any age to take up funded apprenticeship training as well as helping those people who can’t get an employer at the beginning to start their training as a self-funded individual. They then transfer to a funded apprenticeship programme upon finding an employer willing to give them a chance and support them in their journey.
As an employer you can place your untrained or partly trained employee on a funded apprenticeship course with us, regardless of age, experience or the level of training they’ve received before.
As well as being able to train your own people, we also have a bank of motivated and committed adults undertaking training with us now across the UK at our centres in Leeds, Warrington, Coventry and Gatwick. They’re all looking for an employer to take them on (so they can work for you whilst being on a funded apprenticeship program) and we’re looking to match them up with suitable businesses.
TO WATCH A VIDEO EXPLANATION OF THE 4 STEPS TRAINING PROGRAMME CLICK HERE
