J & E Hall is putting the feelgood factor back into the industry. At a time of recession when businesses are thinking twice about taking on young staff, J & E Hall has recruited three new apprentices and extended its programme for trainee refrigeration and air conditioning engineers.
Long serving Halls’ employee Alan Cowburn has been appointed as the company’s new apprenticeship scheme mentor. He has a wealth of experience to call upon from his 30 years with the firm in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector.
He said: “The sky is the limit for our newest batch of trainee refrigeration and air conditioning engineers. Managing director Mark Roberts and service director Peter McAllister are both former J & E Hall apprentices – it just shows how far you can go with the right training and support. With this new scheme we are aiming to foster closer links between the youngsters and senior management. They’ll have the opportunity to talk to these senior guys – it’s a great way of monitoring their progress and breaking down barriers.”
By looking again at the structure of its apprenticeship programme, Halls is sending a message to the industry and business community at large, as Alan Cowburn explained: “At a time of recession it’s easy to get down in the dumps about manufacturing. You have to look beyond this. Developing skills and bringing on apprentices is not only good for Halls but the industry as a whole. It promotes a feelgood factor about what we do which can only be a good thing.
“We have a fine tradition of training at Halls. The company can trace its history back more than 200 years but we live in an era when there is a skills shortage. As an industry we have to fill that gap and employing apprentices makes a lot of sense.”
This year J & E Hall has taken on three new apprentices – Benjamin Clapham (Leeds Service Centre), Daniel Layfield (Westerham) and Christopher Bremner (Glasgow). They will follow a traditional training route: studying for NVQ qualifications in refrigeration and air conditioning as block release students over a three-year period at the Grimsby Institute and receiving on the job training under the supervision of service centre managers. Beyond this there will also be the opportunity to experience other aspects of the J & E Hall business. This can vary from seeing the latest developments at the Halls’ technical centre in Dartford, to getting an insight into compressor remanufacturing at Derby.
| And the future? “We are committed to delivering a rolling apprenticeship programme,” Alan Cowburn explains. “My job as a mentor is to ensure that all aspects of the programme come together for the benefit of the apprentices. We are looking for feedback from them as much as us. As a company we know we can’t standstill on training. We know we need new blood and so does the industry. If you’re young,willing to work hard and learn, the rewards are many. It’s a great career.” |  |
