Continuing with our National Apprenticeship Week theme, we spoke with Jim Mannion, who has progressed from Assistant Site Manager to Contracts Manager, working with many of the big industry names such as Taylor Wimpey plc and Bellway Homes over the last 20 years. Jim has now undertaken a Clerk of Works role, strengthening his ability to uphold high construction standards and deliver exceptional results. Jim spoke to us about his experiences with apprentices and what has changed over his time in the industry.
“During my time in the housing industry, I would interview candidates and have apprentices on my sites. I would ensure they were put with trades that were willing to have an apprentice with them. Occasionally, this was an issue as some trades did not want to or would prefer not to have an apprentice with them. I would follow up on the apprentice with monthly or bi-monthly progress meetings to hear their views on how things were progressing.There is a risk if we do not have apprenticeships and training programs, the knowledge and experience from the older trades will not be passed on and will be lost. The good practices I have noticed is that the sub-contractors are now introducing their own apprenticeship routes. The not so good is when the main contractors take apprentices on, at the end of their apprenticeship, they will either offer them a role as an assistant site manager or let them go, maybe there could be an option for some mid-range opportunities?
With the age of an apprenticeship now starting later at the age of 18, a lot of candidates get into bad working habits before starting, then find the adjustment into daily working life very hard and leave the industry early. The entry level to an apprenticeship is not so good. Candidates are required to have certain levels of maths and English, which some will never achieve, yet this is stopping them from becoming a tradesperson on a building site!
A good apprentice is a candidate who has an interest in the trade they are about to take up. Wants to learn and is willing to make mistakes and learn from them.
Advice leading on from this to anyone interested in applying for an apprenticeship would be to understand the industry that they are about to embark on. Take an interest and understand that they must start at the bottom and work up, and with the knowledge and experience, rewards will come!”
