Apprentice finalists win places on five year Strategic Leadership programme

4/6/18 : Speaking at the TClarke Apprentice of the Year competition 2018, Group MD Mike Crowder underlined the competition’s new role, supplying candidates for the company’s new five year talent programme.

Expansion of finalist list reflects growing quality of intake

People will notice that we’ve expanded the list of finalists this year from three to five. This is because we’re seeing a continued increase in the quality of our apprenticeship intake. This year we had twelve very good nominations and each one of those could easily have been included in our shortlist.

Recognition of the value of an apprenticeship-led professional career

Why are we seeing more and more well-qualified and highly-motivated people on our apprenticeship scheme? I think it is part of a wider trend in Britain. More young people are seeing the value of a trade as the solid starting point from which to build a career – rather than university.

When they then look around to see where you can build an engineering career, TClarke has a few advantages – not least the quality of our brand and our reputation for engineering knowledge, plus the obvious truth that our apprentices do progress to the senior roles – that is something that has a long tradition within our culture.

Our Strategic Leadership Programme will deliver leaders and innovation

Today I’m delighted to recognise Dan Kane as our Apprentice of the Year. He’s an exceptional apprentice and we think very highly of him. At the same time, this year and in every year going forward, our focus is on all the finalists. Each one will be automatically enrolled on our five year Strategic Leadership Programme.

The Programme comprises a wide range of professional training opportunities whose collective purpose is to expose Programme members to the skills and real world challenges that will build their professional expertise and open up new horizons and specialisms.

At the same time, we see the programme as a key vehicle for innovative thinking in our business. We know that many of the new ideas that will have profound impacts on our industry and our company will be generated by the younger people in our business. This programme gives them a powerful platform to develop innovation and get the support they need.