We were absolutely delighted to be announced as a finalist for SME employer of the year for the Scottish Apprenticeship Awards 2020. Our apprenticeship programme is a fundamental part of our business, having trained our own apprentices since 1976. During this time, the programme has had to change and adapt several times to make sure that we provide our apprentices with the best training that we can. We even train apprentices for other companies!

You may be interested to know that 36% of our current colleagues at Pointer started out as apprentices in our programme and 20% of those colleagues have gone on to fulfill senior management positions. That goes to show how well we prepare our apprentices for the working world and they are so good that we don’t want to let them go.

We like to provide a mix of vocational, onsite training within class ‘college style’ training to make sure that we can find the environment that best suits the educational needs of the apprentice. Our learning and development officer, David Buntain, works closely alongside our suppliers to provide training on the latest technologies so that they are well equipped to deal with any customer request. He is also well versed in the latest industry regulations and health and safety standards so that our apprentices always have the most up to date knowledge.

The training doesn’t stop after their apprenticeship, all of our security engineers receive regular supplier training and refresher training to keep them on top of their game and able to handle all customer requests efficiently and effectively.

It is amazing to be recognized by Skills Development Scotland for all the work that goes into training and educating apprentices to a high standard and although we did not win, we are certainly honored to be a finalist. Better luck next year!