• Question: What are you looking for in employing people for apprentiships

    Asked by Markhutchinson to Huw, Gosha, Stacey, Steve on 18 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Gosha Barzowska

      Gosha Barzowska answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      I work for the company called Airbus – we design and build planes.
      The are two criteria that Airbus considers – A-level results and so called ‘soft skills’.
      We are looking for A’s or B’s in A-levels – maths, physics and english – in terms of education.
      With regards to soft skills:
      1) ability to work in a team
      2) Good commuication skills
      3) desire to learn – being ambitous
      4) adaptability to change

      As you can see the only thing you need to worry about now is getting good grades at school and work on your behaviours. 🙂

    • Photo: Steve Cox

      Steve Cox answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      I’m self-employed and working for myself at the moment, but if I were looking for apprentices I would look for young people who are likely to get qualifications in the right subjects (including Maths and Physics), can communicate effectively (that’s a really important aspect in engineering), show that they can think in a logical manner, and have a passion for creating and making things.

    • Photo: Huw Williams

      Huw Williams answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      As the other have explained here being an attractive employee is a blend of 3 factors.

      1) Your Technical skills – Qualifications and Engineering Knowledge
      2) Your “Soft Skills” or Behaviours – Team work, Communications, Common sense, Courage and Problem Solving Skills.
      3) Your Motivation – being passionate about engineering, willing to learn and ambitious.

      To be an Apprentice you’ll need to show a potential employer that you have a good mix of all 3 and for that you need evidence. Good grades in your GCSE’s will help show your technical skills, examples of project work or team activities like sports/music will help you show “Soft Skills” and finally you can prove your passion for Engineering by showing what you do in your spare time. Extra-curricular activities like STEM clubs, making things in your shed or teaching yourself how to do Engineering Drawings are all great examples of this.

      Huw

    • Photo: Stacey Cutten

      Stacey Cutten answered on 19 Mar 2015:

      Well, I’m not an employer, but my employers were personally looking for young people that were willing to learn. To be honest, that’s the only trait that the other apprentices and I shared. We were all from different backgrounds, had different talents, personalities and abilities. They wanted people who were easy to talk to, who they saw potential to grow. 🙂

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