SECTOR FOCUS: SKILLS
Build a future in transport T
ransport group National Express Group, which operates many of Birmingham’s buses, backed- National Apprenticeship Week.
The public transport provider, which operates coach,
bus and rail services worldwide, employs more than a hundred apprentices around its group. No-one knows the benefits apprenticeships can bring
better than Kevin Gale, the service delivery director for National Express UK Coach, who started his career as an apprentice and has since welcomed scores more to the transport industry. A transport industry veteran with more than 20 years’ experience, Kevin got his first taste of the working world joining the rail industry as an apprentice just days shy of his sixteenth birthday.
‘I’m always blown away by the dedication and enthusiasm shown by our apprentices’
He said: “It’s safe to say apprenticeships really help people start their career in the driving seat. Apprenticeships truly are win-win, offering huge benefits not only to the young people involved who gain invaluable skills and expertise, but also to participating businesses and the wider economy. I’m always blown away by the dedication and enthusiasm shown by our apprentices and seeing them go from strength to strength as they progress in the careers makes me really proud to be part of the business.” National Express West Midlands employs more than
5,000 staff, including 23 apprentices, who work in engineering across the company’s garages, the Midland Metro depot in Wednesbury and in various admin offices.
On the buses: Ava Drzazgowski
Engineer a future in motor industry
Ava Drzazgowski works in the coach company’s HR department and has made a such an impression since joining as a business administration apprentice that she has been taken on full-time. She said: “There are lots of opportunities to develop
within the business - I am engagement champion for my department and in November I was nominated twice for employee of the year. The whole company has been so supportive of my growth and learning and I hope to stay here for a long time.”
Britain’s car makers are struggling to fill 5,000 positions because of a skills shortage – and a similar dilemma is facing the retail arm of the automotive industry. “The blinkered view of working
in the motor trade has to be changed,” said Steve Nash, chief executive of the Institute of the Motor Industry, who wonders why people don’t want to work in the auto sector. The IMI, which represents people
who work in the retail arm of the automotive industry, has identified five reasons why the retail motor industry is a good sector in which to work: • It’s growing – 1.59m cars were made in 2015, with a 2.9 per cent year on year increase in sales
• It is a competitive payer with good rewards
• It invests hugely in people development – in excess of £100m per annum
• It’s at the forefront of new technology
• Millions of pounds is invested in customer service every year The IMI represents the £152
billion a year retail motor industry, which needs 12,000 apprentices a year to stand still.
APRIL 2016 CHAMBERLINK 49
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