On 01/04/2019 17:23, thescullster wrote:
On 01/04/2019 16:34, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Â*Â*Â* Bill wrote:
My teacher son blames the operation of the apprentice scheme. There are
apprenticeships, but largely leading nowhere.
Employing an apprentice is hard work if done properly (I know this from
experience) and small firms find it much easier and cheaper to find
good, competent EU labour than commit to years of training.

Adam is a star.

I found it very rewarding to have apprentices - although they weren't
called that. But pretty well all of ours had a real interest in their job
as well as career. In other words, just not a way of making enough money
to live on.

The big snag arises in a 'freelance' world. Why would you want to train
someone to compete for your job?

Hi Dave

One issue with attracting "apprentice" grade applicants as we all
remember them is that I really need to attract a good academic level as
well.

2D drafting in CAD is fast becoming a thing of the past.Â* For the sort
of work we are doing, the ideal fit would be at least low graduate level
with some experience of real metal who could work with parametric design
code to automate the creation of frequently used models that required
significant changes between projects.

Oh and they would also need to be meticulous and highly organised.

Yes I too would be interested in taking on learners, but due to the
pressure to recruit in a short time scale I'm not sure that is feasible.

If you are in that position and in a hurry then you may not have much
alternative but to go to one of the talent scout/low end headhunters
that specialises in recruiting the best engineers recently out of
university. Snag is that they tend to move again just after you finish
training them up unless your pay rate for their skill is in the upper
quartile.

We used to swap employees with various other high tech firms through the
use of the same recruitment consultant. A quick look in the back of New
Scientist will give you an idea of who the current players are. Count
your fingers before and after every encounter with such guys.

You could also consider talking to your local (or not so local)
university to see if you could get a sandwich year student in to do some
of the low end work freeing up more skilled workers. We used to take one
in each of mechanical, electronics and software every year. Sometimes
one of them would join us after they graduated. I had one of the first
ever software apprentices in the UK working for me in the late 1980's.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In article , Martin Brown
writes
On 01/04/2019 17:23, thescullster wrote:
On 01/04/2019 16:34, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
*** Bill wrote:
My teacher son blames the operation of the apprentice scheme. There are
apprenticeships, but largely leading nowhere.
Employing an apprentice is hard work if done properly (I know this from
experience) and small firms find it much easier and cheaper to find
good, competent EU labour than commit to years of training.

Adam is a star.

I found it very rewarding to have apprentices - although they weren't
called that. But pretty well all of ours had a real interest in their job
as well as career. In other words, just not a way of making enough money
to live on.

The big snag arises in a 'freelance' world. Why would you want to train
someone to compete for your job?
Hi Dave
One issue with attracting "apprentice" grade applicants as we all
remember them is that I really need to attract a good academic level
as well.
2D drafting in CAD is fast becoming a thing of the past.* For the
sort of work we are doing, the ideal fit would be at least low
graduate level with some experience of real metal who could work with
parametric design code to automate the creation of frequently used
models that required significant changes between projects.
Oh and they would also need to be meticulous and highly organised.
Yes I too would be interested in taking on learners, but due to the
pressure to recruit in a short time scale I'm not sure that is feasible.

If you are in that position and in a hurry then you may not have much
alternative but to go to one of the talent scout/low end headhunters
that specialises in recruiting the best engineers recently out of
university. Snag is that they tend to move again just after you finish
training them up unless your pay rate for their skill is in the upper
quartile.

We used to swap employees with various other high tech firms through
the use of the same recruitment consultant. A quick look in the back of
New Scientist will give you an idea of who the current players are.
Count your fingers before and after every encounter with such guys.

Be prepared to drive a hard bargain. Don't accept their first quotes for
fees.
You could also consider talking to your local (or not so local)
university to see if you could get a sandwich year student in to do
some of the low end work freeing up more skilled workers. We used to
take one in each of mechanical, electronics and software every year.
Sometimes one of them would join us after they graduated. I had one of
the first ever software apprentices in the UK working for me in the
late 1980's.

Recruitment agencies are like Estate Agents but without the ethics. :-)
--
bert