The next generation of Engineer Apprentices sign up with Volvo Construction Equipment
The latest generation of Volvo apprentice engineers begin college this month marking the next stage of their learning journey which began with the company in June.
Volvo invited its’ seven new Apprentice engineers to a formal induction week in June at their Head Office in Duxford, Cambridge. Their journey commenced with the Apprentices and their parents being given the opportunity to find out more about the company from Managing Director, Nick Allen followed by a motivational talk from Customer Support Director, Paul Kersley, a former Apprentice Engineer himself to help prepare them for what they can expect as they embark on their learning journey.
This was followed by an official signing ceremony to demonstrate a commitment from Volvo, the Apprentice and their parents to support and encourage them throughout the programme and future employment with the company.
Once the ceremony was over the Apprentices bid farewell to their parents and started their induction programme. The first week was spent at Duxford and included health & safety training, product familiarisation and a visit to a customer quarry. This kick starts their learning and quickly develops their appreciation of potential risks, product applications and the importance of uptime to customers. Each evening, Apprentices were joined by one of the Executive management team and a Volvo CE employee for dinner to start to build relationships and further the Apprentices learning experience about Volvo’s culture, values and each other.
The second week of the induction programme was spent at an Outward Bound Trust centre in the Lake District where they were able to develop teambuilding skills and test themselves physically and mentally during hiking, abseiling, canoeing and camping activities before they join college in October.
The third week saw the start of their local Customer Support Centre induction which continued for the following three months.
The Apprentices start their first four weeks at college on Monday 31st October.
The Volvo apprenticeship lasts four years and includes a combination of training at the National Construction College, work based learning at the local Customer Support Centre and Volvo specific training at the Technical Training Centre in Duxford.
Competence Development Manager, Louise Stevens who joined Volvo CE in October 2015 comments: “I am extremely excited to welcome the 2016 cohort of future engineers at the start of their career. We are a strong innovative brand and as a consequence our customers have high expectations to fulfil their uptime requirements, resolving issues right first time. To enable this we have to employ and develop Apprentices into highly skilled engineers to meet this need.”
“To continue our success we must ensure our programme not only provides the Apprentice with the standard generic qualification but that we exceed it! We facilitate this by providing specific Volvo product training at our Duxford Training Centre following the generic training at college. We believe a timely link between these learning activities helps to support and strengthen the learning experience back in the workplace. In addition to this we build time into the programme in various departments and locations to raise an awareness of the overall business. Year 4 of the programme is the improver year where the Apprentice has to utilise all of the skills acquired to service and repair customers’ equipment and start to gain trust and build relationships with these customers. Our Apprentices are an extremely important part of our business and we want them to enjoy the experience.”
Apprentice, Ross Gunn based in Stirling recently stated “I have really enjoyed my first year with Volvo and I enjoy it more as time goes on and I learn more within the field. I’m looking forward to the year ahead.”
If you would like to find out more about an apprenticeship with Volvo please visit:
http://www.volvoce.com/dealers/en-gb/vcegb/careers/Pages/apprentice-program.aspx