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It’s well established that engineers are perennially in demand.

for school graduates and the skills demand in manufacturing in particular continues to grow year on year.

It’s one of the reasons 95% of EEF’s members (manufacturing companies) have offered or are currently offering apprenticeships.

While there are still some who hold outdated opinions of apprenticeships, increasingly young people are realising this is often the best route to their dream career.

Here are just a few reasons for the rise of apprenticeships:

• Earn while you learn: gain qualifications and get paid (and finish with no debt).
• You can gain work experience and get a university degree with Advanced and Degree Apprenticeships (and have your company pay for your tuition).
• Gain on the job experience and get your foot in the door at a top employer ready to invest in your development.
• Combine classroom and hands-on learning to appeal to a variety of learning styles.
• They give you a chance to try out many areas of a business to find out where your interests and strengths lie.
• Many senior directors at manufacturing companies started as apprentices and claim it gave them a better hands-on understanding of their company and how its products are made.

EEF Technology Hub

Given the increasing number of manufacturers looking for apprentices to help fill skills gap caused by an aging Boomer workforce, EEF has built two multi-million pound apprenticeship training facilities in Aston.

The and the (the latter of which was completed just last year) provide technical training and apprenticeship training for a variety of manufacturers, including Jaguar Land Rover, Ishida and Amazon.