Five young people recently started their vocational training at the Oldbury-based specialist for cold-rolled profiles for the construction and manufacturing industries in the UK. The newcomers were preceded by many others, as our site not far from Birmingham (UK) has been training apprentices in technical professions and structural design for more than 30 years. Many career opportunities await them after their training. From shop floor professionals to managers, a wide variety of career paths are available according to their individual goals. „There are currently 14 apprentices at voestalpine Metsec, five positions are planned each year, and by 2025, 20% of the workforce at voestalpine Metsec will be employed as apprentices,“ explains Steve, who is responsible for the apprentices. They get an overall view of professional life in all areas of the company, as soon as they start, e.g. in toolmaking, design, sales, maintenance, project planning, profile processing or customer-specific roll forming and quality centres.
In addition to the on-the-job training, the apprentices spend at least 20% of their time at a college or other educational institution, where they complete training leading to a state-recognised qualification.
Steve adds: „During the first year of their apprenticeship, the trainees spend five days a week at college or another educational institution. During the second and third years, they work four days at the company and go to college for one day.“ Depending on the level of the training programme, it lasts between one and five years. A level 3 apprenticeship, for example, is equivalent to an A level. The apprenticeship programme is open to anyone aged 16 or over who is resident in England, the British Overseas Territories or the Crown Dependencies (Channel Islands and Isle of Man) and not in full-time education.
Teaching young people is one thing, accompanying them on their career path is another. The rotation principle, in which our voestalpine Metsec apprentices get to know the main areas of the company, enables them to find out what they really want. This allows them to find out where they see their professional future.
They also get to know a lot of colleagues by regularly changing departments, gaining impressions and understanding the company as a whole. And the support of experienced colleagues on this path in turn creates strong, committed and technically qualified professionals on whom we can build our company`s success in the future – a win-win for the young people and for the company! Regular reviews, every 8 weeks by an external training provider, ensure learning progress and as soon as a trainee complete his or her time in a department, a performance evaluation is carried out by the department manager. In this way, not only are we sure that the young people are developing well, but they can also better assess their own abilities. Incidentally, our chosen path of training future specialists in-house is also confirmed by the successes in competitions in which our young voestalpine Metsec employees regularly demonstrate their skills. In 2019, for example, one of our apprentices was honoured with the „Apprentice of the Year Award of the Metal Industry“.
Die voestalpine ist ein weltweit führender Stahl- und Technologiekonzern mit kombinierter Werkstoff- und Verarbeitungskompetenz. Die global tätige Unternehmensgruppe verfügt über rund 500 Konzerngesellschaften und -standorte in mehr als 50 Ländern auf allen fünf Kontinenten. Sie notiert seit 1995 an der Wiener Börse. Mit ihren Premium-Produkt- und Systemlösungen zählt sie zu den führenden Partnern der Automobil- und Hausgeräteindustrie sowie der Luftfahrt- und Öl- & Gasindustrie und ist darüber hinaus Weltmarktführer bei Bahninfrastruktursystemen, bei Werkzeugstahl und Spezialprofilen. Die voestalpine bekennt sich zu den globalen Klimazielen und verfolgt mit greentec steel einen klaren Plan zur Dekarbonisierung der Stahlproduktion.
