For the last 15 years, we have had a skills shortage and a shortage of highly skilled people in the fire and security sector. Employers daily tell me of their struggles to engage with a younger audience. Very rarely does someone at school decide to seek an apprenticeship or career in the fire and security sector. It is an afterthought, a second career or a recommendation from a family member. Skills shortages cripple industries. They push labour costs up, decrease quality of work and reduce accountability. Over the last few years, I have worked in engaging school leavers to join the fire and security sector, and although it was never a waste, it always had too little an effect. We don’t need 100 or 200 apprentices to join the sector. We need thousands!
Our partnership with WorldSkills UK is an opportunity to reach a wider audience, engage with school leavers and raise awareness of the sector. If you have a relationship with a local school, children yourself or even nieces and nephews, I urge you to share the link below and register to support us in bringing new entrants into the industry.
On 24th and 25th March, Skills for Security, in partnership with CSL, Texecom and HIK Vision, have sponsored a new WSUK initiative that aims to bring more new young people into the fire and security sector. The initiative with WorldSkills UK will be made available to over 150 000 young people to promote the sector as a career of choice to High school children across the UK.
The Spotlight Talk for Fire Emergency and Security Systems (FESS) features various people from the sector ranging from apprentices currently on the program, entrants of WSUK, the Chairman of BSIA, employers and our very own MD, David Scott. The goal; is to show the different career paths available and how our sector can give people a rewarding, long and enjoyable career.
Our sector, for the first time, will be shown as a prosperous and safe career choice, alongside other leading organisations and sectors such as the NHS, BAE Systems and the Royal Navy, amongst others. We are thrilled to be included amongst such big players, which we think lends weight to the gravity and importance of or our industry.
Undoubtedly, this is an extremely valuable event for the whole industry. It is a fantastic sign of us all working together to raise awareness of the industry and showcase the possibilities it has to offer. As it will be shown to thousands of students, we are confident that the video will increase the number of enquiries and ultimately the number of people wanting to do an apprenticeship which will benefit us all. If you can do us a favour and share and like our social media posts and log in to give us some feedback on how it goes, it would be much appreciated.
We would also like to thank our sponsors CSL, Texecom and Hikvision who have helped make this happen.
To sign up for this event, please use the following link:
Link to register: https://spotlight.worldskillsuk.org/
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