As the demand for skilled laborers with solid employability skills becomes more prominent within the construction industry, manufacturing firm, Howells Patent Glazing, hope to help more young people into the profession in a bid to plug the domestic skills shortage.
The construction industry in the UK accounts for 2.6 million jobs and it is expected to expand by 3.3% over the next five years.
What’s more, according to recent RICS figures, an exit from the single market could mean that the construction industry will have to fill the void of 176,500 EU workers that the UK currently employs.
Tracey Jackson, marketing manager at Howells Patent Glazing said: “The UK’s exit from the single market will put even more pressure on companies like ours to recruit and train our domestic workforce.
"The construction industry will need to recruit 178,700 additional people over the next five years to fulfill the Annual Recruitment Requirement (ARR) of 35,740. We have always made investing in our staff a priority for our business and we’re really excited at the prospect of helping to train a whole new generation of skilled laborers.”
Howells Patent Glazing have put together a handy tip sheet below in a bid to encourage more young people into the construction industry:
- Decide on which construction career is right for you - the first thing you need to do is decide which construction career interests you? If you’re not sure, you can use resources like the Careers in Construction Career Finder to help you narrow down your options. Also have a look at the different Types of Construction to get a better idea of what career to persue.
- Get to know your chosen career - once you know what area of construction interests you, call local construction companies and see if there are any job sites which you can tour, or call some local unions and ask if they can put you in touch with a journeyperson in your chosen trade, so you can ask them about what their job entails. Speaking to people in the industry and to learning what their field of work is like will prove invaluable, and is a sure fire way of deciding whether it’s the career for you.
- Once you’ve decided on a career in construction, you need to decide on which route of training you’d like to persue: register as an apprentice and combine on-the-job training with in-class learning; enroll for post-secondary training at a university, community college or a technical institute; or, find a job as an entry-level construction worker and learn the skills you need on the job.
Howells see their continuous investment in staff as an enrichment programme to ensure that every member of their workforce is satisfied in their job role, and is able to obtain the relevant skills needed to remain ahead of the pack within the manufacturing & construction industry. They regularly take on young work experience pupils in the hope of inspiring a new generation into the construction industry.
