Inspiration as part of National Apprenticeship Week.
A director at housing and regeneration specialist Keepmoat dusted off his tools last week in a bid to inspire a construction apprentice.
Project Director Paul Bingham began his career as an apprentice bench joiner in 1993. He joined Keepmoat last year, and is now responsible for overseeing a multimillion pound refurbishment, repairs and maintenance contract with Birmingham City Council.
As part of this year’s National Apprenticeship Week, which ran from 6th to 10th March, Paul swapped his directorial role for a morning working with Apprentice Electrician Sam Rasmin conducting electrical repairs to homes in the north of the city.
20 year old Sam, who lives in Aldridge and is currently studying an electrical training course at JTL National Centre of Excellence, joined Keepmoat in spring last year. He now receives on-the-job training from skilled professionals while earning a salary and working towards his qualification.
Paul said, “It’s nice to see training opportunities being provided for apprentices like Sam as it enables us to address the skills shortage in construction and leave a lasting legacy in the local community.
“The most challenging part about being back on the tools was working in a restricted environment. In responsive repairs, we tend to work around people’s possessions so it can be quite difficult to manoeuvre your way around them. Also, what was meant to be a simple hour’s job turned out to be a bit more complicated and took around three hours.”
Joined by Sam’s training mentor Lee Coleman, Paul got first-hand experience of how an Apprentice Electrician learns his practical skills, through a series of on-the job tests and guidance; from running cabling to repairing fuse boxes.
Paul said, “Sam’s mentor is really good. While we were out onsite, I could see that he was running through things with him, asking questions, guiding him and testing him. This experience has reassured me that we’ve chosen the right mentors to help deliver our apprenticeships. They’re providing a good training environment and giving apprentices plenty of support.
“Working with Sam, I’ve also learnt a lot about him. He has the right attitude and is very keen to work. He’s doing really well and if he continues working hard, he’ll have a bright future to look forward to.”
The pair then swapped bases in the afternoon, as Sam got to shadow Paul as he performed his directorial duties in the main office on College Road. They attended a managers’ meeting where Sam got to learn about the allocation of resources and how Keepmoat projects are planned and delivered.
Sam said, “Shadowing Paul was interesting because I got see how the managers organise their resources. I feel like it gave me a better understanding of how jobs are actually planned from the top, to when I go out and do them.
“As a Keepmoat apprentice, I enjoy doing the work. I find the electrics side of it very interesting.”
For those considering applying for apprenticeships, Sam says, “Work hard and make sure you really want to do it. When you apply for an apprenticeship make sure it’s something that you want to do and try to get work experience first.”
Keepmoat currently employs more than 300 apprentices, trainees and graduates across the UK. For more information visit here