This week marks the 10^th annual National Apprenticeship Week (#NAW2017), which aims to celebrate the wonderful work that apprentices do, and encourage more employers to become involved in apprenticeship schemes.

Apprenticeships are offered to anyone over 16 years old. They provide a chance to learn alongside experienced colleagues and gain practical job-specific skills in a work environment.

Now is an opportune time to become involved in an apprenticeship scheme for both employees and employers. There are apprenticeships available in 1500 job roles that cover more than 170 industries. This number is continuing to increase in order to meet the Government’s agenda to have 3 million apprenticeships in training by 2020.

When Did Engineering Apprenticeships Begin?

Engineering apprenticeships have been incredibly popular since the early 19^th century. Even through the peaks and troughs of apprenticeships, they have remained a top industry.

According to Technical Education Matters, ‘towards to end of the 19^th century approximately 340,000 apprentices were involved each year in preparing to enter building, engineering, shipbuilding and woodworking occupations.’ Even today, engineering apprenticeships are still in the Top 5 most popular apprenticeships.

It is important to understand how critical engineers are to the economy, and engineering apprenticeships are a key contributor to an employment rise in the industry.

Knowing where to start when considering doing an engineering apprenticeship can be daunting. We have written some top tips for some help with starting out.

1. Understand the Sectors Within Engineering.

Engineering is an incredibly broad term. Though you may know you want an apprenticeship in engineering, it is important to understand the different sectors involved. This ensures you undertake an apprenticeship most suited to your personality and skills and makes sure that neither yours nor your employer’s time will be wasted.

You can find out more about the different engineering industries online, or you could speak to local engineering companies about the work involved.

Don’t panic though if you are still not sure about which specific industry you would like to be involved in at the end of your research. A lot of engineering apprenticeships provide experience across a number of disciplines which will give you transferable skills.

The main sectors in engineering are:

• Automotive
• Aerospace
• Civil Engineering
• Chemical
• Defence
• Electrical
• Energy
• Hydraulic
• Marine
• Mechanical
• Mining
• Process Engineering
• Systems Engineering
• Transport

2. Identify Where the Demand Lies

Though it is too early into 2017 to identify the most in-demand jobs for this year, 2016 saw the UK faced with a chronic skills shortage in the sector, with engineers in high demand.

According to Forbes, some of last year’s highest demanding jobs were manufacturing engineers, mechanical engineers, and electrical engineers.

Figures from the Royal Academy of Engineering show that there was a shortfall of 1.8 million engineers across the UK last year. Philip Greenish, Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering, has said: ‘Engineering accounts for 25% of gross value added for the UK economy and manufactured goods account for some 50% of UK exports.’

One of the UK’s leading entrepreneurs and inventors, Sir James Dyson, frequently talks about the engineering shortage, calling it ‘economic suicide’. He recently donated £12m to set up The Dyson School of Design Engineering, based in South Kensington, to tackle the crisis.

Richard Zambacca, president of Randstad Engineering believes that “engineers will be highly sought after this year, especially within organizations that have not typically required engineers in the past. The healthcare and entertainment industries are just two examples of sectors that will look to hire more engineers to support new and innovative technologies.”

If you cannot decide which area of engineering would be best for you, it is worth knowing what jobs are in high demand at the moment as there are likely to be several apprenticeship schemes to decrease the shortage. Lack of skilled engineers in that sector may also lead to a high-earning job.

3. Know What Skills are Important for Getting Involved in an Engineering Apprenticeship

As we identified previously, there are many different aspects of engineering. One way to know which type would most suit you is to think about your prominent skills, and which sector of engineering would benefit the most from there.

Engineering is a demanding environment for requiring skills and knowledge to get a foothold in the industry. Of course, you will learn these during your apprenticeship, but having evidence of possessing these skills through qualifications or experience before beginning your apprenticeship will help get onto the best scheme, and is a guarantee to becoming a top engineer.

We’ve listed below some of the key skills involved in working as an engineer:

Strong analytical skills. A great engineer will be continually examining projects and thinking of ways to make it work better. They will also always analyse themselves and how they could work more efficiently next time.

Attention to detail. Being an engineer means working to specifications and technical drawings. You will be often be working within millimetres. Attention to detail is so important as there is no room for error in this industry.

STEM skills. The core of any engineering degree is STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) skills. Engineering is an exact science and a series of mathematical and logical problems. It is full of complex calculations that need to be understood and resolved. Technical skills are essential as specialist programmes such as CAD/CAM are frequently used throughout a project.
You will be taught these throughout your apprenticeship, but working on these skills beforehand will certainly benefit you during your apprenticeship and will save a lot of stress in the long run.

Problem-solving skills. You must be able to make sense of complex systems and understand how they work and how problems arise. Problem-solving in engineering means breaking a problem right down to the specifics and technicalities. Time is everything in engineering and it is important to know how to solve problems calmly, quickly, and efficiently.

Communication skills. Though often thought of as a generic skill, an engineer must be able to translate complex technical language into a language that allows them to communicate with clients and other engineers. There are often several engineers working on a project as well as Project Engineers, Quality Managers, Site Managers and Operation Managers. Engineering projects are so specific and technical that it is vital that there is excellent communication throughout all parties.

4. How to Get Involved in Engineering Apprenticeships.

Finding an engineering apprenticeship can sometimes be challenging. It is therefore never too early to begin research. Apprenticeships typically start at certain times in the year, usually in September, but can often be advertised a few months beforehand, or for larger companies, it can even be a year in advance.

There are plenty of websites where you can search for apprenticeship vacancies by sector and region. You can often sign up for email alerts as well so that you’re always updated on new opportunities. We have included a small section below of websites that may help you find an apprenticeship in engineering:

http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/apprenticeships/

https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship

https://www.notgoingtouni.co.uk/sector/engineering

You can also directly approach local engineering services near you. You can visit their website to see if they have an IET Approved Apprenticeship Scheme. If they don’t, ringing or emailing to ask if they run an apprenticeship scheme can be beneficial. Even if that company does not offer anything, they may know someone who does.

Social media pages can be a great way to connect and network with people for opportunities. There are often groups on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook where you can join and find out opportunities.

Keep an eye on events. Local colleges and universities often have career fairs and conferences where you can learn more about apprenticeships. There are sometimes work experience days too, which are a great way to learn about engineering and gain an insight into the type of work you would be doing before deciding on an apprenticeship.

5. Know the qualifications involved.

There are plenty of apprenticeship opportunities in the engineering industry. They can be done at a variety of stages in your education, not just when you leave school at 16. It is important to know what level of engineering you want to reach.

Some apprenticeship schemes will be enough to get you on track to the career you want to be in. Some require A Levels. You might also want to consider whether your desired career path will require a degree or specialist qualification, as it might be important to plan ahead for those.

Make sure you do plenty of research so that you know exactly what qualifications you will get out of your apprenticeship and which qualifications you will need for your career.

The general apprenticeship levels are:

Intermediate Level – equivalent to 5 GCSE’s
Advanced Level – equivalent to 2 A Levels
Higher Apprenticeship – equivalent to NVQ Level 4. This is relevant for those who already have A-Levels, which normally include an HND (Higher National Diploma), HNC (Higher National Certificate), Foundation degree or Bachelor’s degree.

Apprenticeships are a great way to gain skills and practical experience in an industry. It is also great for employers, as apprentices often bring a fresh approach and enthusiasm which affects other employees. Apprenticeships boost productivity to businesses by an average of £214 per week.

They are also crucial to the economy by helping to close the skills gap and ensure that UK businesses don’t lose out on opportunities due to lack of trained staff. Figures from the Engineering UK 2017 report show that the industry demands 265,000 skilled entrants – including 186,000 engineers – every year until 2024 in order to meet demand.

Support National Apprenticeship Week. 6^th-10^th March 2017