She’s one of the youngest people in her workplace – but Abbie Beaver hasn’t looked back since setting her sights on a career in engineering. And the 17-year-old apprentice hopes her experience will inspire other young women as the UK’s engineering industry faces an uphill battle trying to attract new recruits. That’s why Abbie and her employers, the multi-disciplined engineering firm adi Group, which has offices in Northamptonshire, are backing the Tomorrow’s Engineers Week (4-8 November).
The initiative, drawn up by Engineering UK, aims to showcase the broad range of lucrative careers available in the sector as well as educate and inspire young people into the trade.
Abbie, who was recognised in June as one of the Women’s Engineering Society’s top 50 women engineers in the UK, first started at adi Group on its pioneering pre-apprenticeship scheme, whilst still at school. It has provided young people like Abbie with a springboard into apprenticeships, having gained knowledge in electrical and mechanical engineering through a two-year in-house qualification.
Here she tells us her top five reasons for choosing a career in engineering:
Abbie was praised by James Sopwith, Group Strategic Account Director, who said the company was proud of its work in developing apprenticeships.
“Abbie epitomises the core values of our business,” he said. “We are extremely proud of the success of our apprenticeship programmes, which are helping to make our communities more sustainable.
“We all have a responsibility to help address the skills shortage in the industry. Initiatives like Tomorrows Engineers Week help shine a light on why engineering is such a rewarding career.”
The sector needs to attract 186,000 skilled recruits each year until 2024 to reduce its skills shortage, according to the government.
“We want every young person to see that engineering offers a varied, stimulating and rewarding career,” said Dr Hilary Leevers, CEO of EngineeringUK.
“The UK needs tens of thousands more engineers and Tomorrow’s Engineers Week provides an opportunity for the engineering community to work together to inspire the next generation of engineers to meet this demand.”
To learn about apprenticeships at the adi Group, click here.
Businesses can also find out more about the Group’s pioneering Pre-Apprenticeship programme here.
For more information on Tomorrow’s Engineers Week, click here.
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