The importance of work experience

George is a young man who came to us for work experience when he was 16, he was not sure what he wanted to do but knew that he saw the construction industry as somewhere he wanted to be. George described himself as not really being interested in school, and actively pursued work experience opportunities.

Thanks to work experience George was able to trial a number of roles and learn more about the industry. Given his age he could not get the hands-on experience of working on site but was able to start to get an idea of the work being undertaken. At 18 he reached out an applied for a ground working apprenticeship, given his limited experience we chose to employ George as a labourer and set up a development plan where we would identify the most appropriate apprenticeship for him.

After a few months on site, George quickly realised that he did not want to do groundworks, but noticed the work of the form workers and thought it would suit him more. We done a Q&A with George:

Q: What has motivated you to pursue an apprenticeship with Keltbray?

George: “I wanted to learn how to do formworks because it requires carpentry, which I had some experience with, and I like being outside and active when I work, so being on site is ideal for me.”

Q: “Now that you have just begun your apprenticeship, how are you enjoying your time on site and at College?”

George: “I am having a great time learning new things every day while working on site and at college.”

As part of George’s apprenticeship he also being supported in completing his functional skills in maths, George was reluctant to undertake his maths qualification due to his experiences in school, but when we approached him from a development perspective he good see the benefits of obtaining the qualification.

How does football contribute to the construction industry?

Keltbray have long standing relationships with community organisations, with less direct focus on construction but more on how we can support the community in a generalised way, this can range from activities around employability and people skills, whilst also offering employment opportunities.  Thanks to our connections with Millwall Football club who hosted a career fair we were able to meet Brissi our current formwork apprentice.

Football clubs like Millwall are well known in their communities and often have young people engaging in various activities outside of football, so to be able to utilise their relationship with the community, and meet young people allows us to engage a greater number of young people that we would normally.

Brissi attended the career fair but was not quite sure of his next move, he just knew he wanted a job that would lead to a career. Brissi had attended college and was doing a business course but felt a more practical route would suit him. Earning whilst learning really appealed to him, as such he attended the career fair looking for an apprenticeship.

With no experience in the industry but the right attitude we were able to offer Brissi the opportunity to do some labouring on our 2 Aldermanbury Sq Project, the opportunity would enable him to learn more about the industry and more importantly identify different roles he could undertake.

Brissi is tall in stature, but an extremely quiet young man and these are two characteristics that do not usually go together. Since Brissi began working for Keltbray it is clear he has gained some confidence and this not only shown in the way he approaches tasks, but how he communicates with others. Thanks to Brissi’s commitment to his role he was enrolled on a formwork apprenticeship and has stated ‘he now feels like he can actually build something’.