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LEIAANNUALREVIEW2016PAGE8 include in their own recruitment processes. David Jackson has also found involvement with theTrailblazer Group worthwhile and indeedis encouraged that efforts to convince government of the specific characteristics of the industry seem to be making some ground and that the proposed standards are going to be suitable for the industry as a whole. His commitment to apprenticeships goes back more than 30 yearsto when Jackson Lifts was founded in 1979. I am Service Managing Director of the companybut retain a close role in trainingbecause it is an essential part of our family business. Lift and escalator engineering should not simply be lumped into electrical engineering.There is a requirement for electrical and mechanical engineeringan understanding of electronics for installing software with adjustment of parameters and for hydraulic engineering skills too David says. So my main concern in the development of the scheme is to ensure that lift and escalator engineering is seen as a craft apprenticeshiprequiring a two to four year time frame depending on the level of NVQ being completedrather than the one year that Government seems to think is the norm. Rachel echoes these sentiments. Duration of the apprenticeship generated much feedback from the consultation process. Clearlyit is an important topic for respondents. Another topic that generates lively debate is that of keeping apprentices after training themparticularly amongst those companies who see their investment benefiting others without the same level of commitment to the process. David acknowledges that companies that train are competing against companies that dont but do want the benefit of a Trailblazer Group Chairman David WarrTitan Elevators and immediate past President of LEIA Stuart Barron Otis Dave Boyers KONE Lawrence Dooley LEIA David Jackson Jackson Lifts Jim JohnsonApex Lifts Rachel Swales Pickerings Lifts particularly important the current engineering apprenticeship specification runs to a massive 200 plus pages according to LEIAs Lawrence Dooley. The consultation process is co-ordinated by Trailblazer Group member Rachel Swales of Pickerings Liftswho devised the survey using elements of examples from other sectors provided by the Department of BusinessIndustry and Skills BIS. It was important that this survey was not onerous to completeand would generate meaningful responses she saysso it was kept to ten questions and allowed individuals to respond in more detail if they wished. To encourage consultation the survey was promoted widelyusing workforce trained to common and recognized standards. Most senior people at our company have worked through a couple of recessions but we have always maintained our apprentice intake each year as we knew there would be a skills shortage when the recession ended. He continuesThe way to retain motivated apprentices is to provide regular appraisals with senior staff along with the support and guidance from the company workforce many of whom were apprentice trained themselves. Regular monitoring of NVQ progress is importantalso to make available college courses relevant to lift engineering. Monitoring of NVQ and college reports will help to identify where extra support may be required. This approach clearly works well for Jackson Lifts. Over the years we have lost fully trained apprentices to other companies but this is a minority.Apprentice trained staff make up the majority of our workforce and they are now moving into higher management of the company says David. Rachel at Pickerings also takes a pragmatic view. Realisticallyyou know that some apprentices will move onbut investing in training is an essential part of succession planning. She also sees apprenticeships as important throughout the businessand Pickerings prides itself on developing apprentices in the areas of accountsIT and business administration as well as in the engineering disciplines. TheTrailblazer Group is another example of how LEIA can assist industry to work together to raise standards and influence policy.As Rachel saysIt has given me valuable experiencemeeting with other people in the industryincluding competitorsbuilding contacts and collaborating on a common goalto develop a standard to future proof our industry. Blazing a trail for apprenticeships CONTINUED TRAINING industry websites and social media such as LinkedIn together with publications such as Elevation. Rachel has found being part of the Trailblazer Group both rewarding and enlightening. It has been very interesting to see how a standard developshow to capture training objectives and the skills and behaviour requirements for the role and then producing a concise standard document that on implementation will meet the needs of the employer and apprentice. I have enjoyed working as a groupsharing ideas to look at how to develop an apprentices employability she says. We dont want a standard that deters applicants Rachel continues. For examplewe considered whether having a driving licence should be included in the standard.We concluded that this was more appropriate as a nice to have which individual companies could choose to RACHEL SWALES DAVID JACKSON WITH APPRENTICE