It is Scottish Apprenticeship week and at Stirling Electrical Services we are pleased to offer our support and commitment to employing and training apprentices.
Every one of our existing skilled team members are either currently an electrical apprentice or our qualified electricians including myself have all progressed to full electrician status via the recognised electrical apprenticeship scheme in Scotland organised by SECTT. The value of apprenticeships should never be underestimated and in my opinion apprenticeships should be more widely encouraged within secondary education. Each one of our electrical apprentices have to train for at least 4 years combining college theory and practical learning work as well as gaining on-site experience working alongside our qualified electricians. I fully support the drive this week to increase awareness highlighting the important role that apprentices can play within businesses and the long term benefits they can bring. Right from the very beginning of Stirling Electrical Services in 1996 I have always been keen to employ apprentices within the business. So during this important Scottish Apprenticeship Week I am pleased that we have made a double Apprentice commitment. Firstly we have this week employed a 3rd year electrical apprentice who unfortunately was made redundant at his previous company in late 2017. Qualifying as an electrician after 4 years of apprentice training can set people on the road to a rewarding career and with 3 years apprenticeship training under his belt it was important to take this apprentice under our wing and help him train and study over the coming months to allow him to prepare for his final electrical exam. Secondly we are also committing to employing a new 1st year electrical apprentice during the Autumn college intake with a commitment to employ them for the duration of their 4 year apprenticeship training. We will announce more details around May this year regarding how people can apply. Apprenticeships are crucial for the electrical industry, fast track electrical training courses are a waste of space and I would argue even dangerous for the electrical industry. For those that are considering an apprenticeship especially in the skilled trades then don't let anyone including school careers advice put you off from becoming an apprentice. If you turn up with an attitude to put in the hard work and commit to learning your trade then an apprenticeship can be a worthwhile long-term career move. There has been a positive step in the drive to regulate the electrical industry in Scotland with MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston tabling a motion in the Scottish Parliament.
The motion tabled by the Highlands and Islands Conservative politician can be viewed below and is calling for cross party support. (image from The Scottish Parliament website) 4/3/2018 Plunged Into DarknessIt should be rather embarrassing for an electrical business to be plunged into darkness but like tens of thousands of other businesses across Scotland we have been closed and left in the dark for the past few days due to the heavy snow.
With snow falling and the unprecedented red weather snow warning looming we took the decision to close last Wednesday at 14.30 and as the snow continued to fall and aided by the windy conditions the roads deteriorated quickly so for safety reasons travelling was a no go meaning we were also closed on Thursday and Friday. I can't remember another time in nearly 25 years of business that we have had to totally close for a full working day but the safety and wellbeing of our team members comes first. Some of our team have been out and about this weekend clearing snow from our office car park and we plan to flick the ON switch on Monday and have our services operate near to normal as possible. We had to cancel many jobs last week and will review our job schedule over the coming days and look to reschedule those cancelled jobs as soon as we can. It has been a frustrating past few days for us all whether in business or parents having to make alternative plans due to schools being closed and I ask that our customers show us a little patience over the coming week as we look to turn the lights back up to full brightness as soon as possible. Below some photos of our office snow clearing work. |
Scott McLeanBusiness , Weather, Community, Charity Archives
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7/3/2018
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