Encouraging Engineering
Perfectly 'Engineer' Your Career
The Encouraging Engineering project aims to encourage local students to consider a career in engineering by offering financial support with their studies and offering valuable work experience on their doorstep.
Darlington Borough Council, working in partnership with engineering companies Cummins Engines, Deep Ocean Group (formerly CTC Marine Projects), Mech-tool Engineering Limited, Henry Williams Limited and local educational establishments, will offer summer placements to students together with mentoring support throughout their studies.
The project is funded by the British American Tobacco (BAT) legacy and supports a four-year programme of study for a Mechanical Engineering degree. Participating students will benefit from experience in a variety of commercial, technical and manufacturing roles, together with a financial bursary.
Students must be going on to study Mechanical Engineering (MEng) at University and be studying at a Darlington based college to be eligible to apply.
For further details about the project please contact Stephen Appleby 01325 388943 or email business.support@darlington.gov.uk
Foundation for Jobs
Foundation for Jobs [external link]
Introducing the Darlington Foundation for Jobs Campaign
Foundation for Jobs is an initiative that was launched on 26 January and comprises of a range of activities which will directly increase vocational opportunities for young people in Darlington.
It is a Darlington Partnership initiative which capitalises on the Partnership’s strong networks to stimulate Darlington’s employers to sign up to Foundation commitments and to foster alliances with schools and other public sector providers.
A core aim of the Foundation is to generate as much publicity as possible which promotes job-seekers, employers and agencies providing vocational support. The Campaign will feature prominently in the Northern Echo, a key partner in this initiative.
Launched by the Bishop of Durham the Right Reverend Justin Welby, who called for support from employers in the region. He called on business leaders, union officials and educationalists who attended the launch at Lingfield Point to get involved.
The campaign will establish formal links between schools and employers; encourage employers to offer internships; promote an increase in the number of apprentices; encourage young entrepreneurs and showcase young job seekers.
Bishop Justin said: “This initiative recognises there is a crisis of youth unemployment, of economic recession, but also says we recognise there is a need to plan in order to flourish in the future.”
Bishop Justin became the first to sign the Foundation for Jobs pledge, saying he would take on an intern in his office and look at areas where more youngsters could be taken on across the diocese.
He added: “I am passionate about being patron and this campaign has the potential to transform the opportunities of thousands of young people.”
With UK youth unemployment at record levels, more than 1,000 young people aged under 25 are currently claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) in the Borough alone.
It is a grim statistic that the Foundation aims to tackle over the next year, by helping more than 1,000 young people to be better placed to secure work. This includes creating at least 100 internships at firms in the Borough and 100 additional apprenticeship places, as well as inspiring youngsters to develop entrepreneurial skills.
In addition it will provide 1,000 youngsters with the chance to establish formal links with local companies, providing vital skills for their CVs and a genuine insight into the world of work.
As he launched the Foundation, Bishop Justin, commented: “When businesses are in a crisis the big danger is they become short-term and put a hold on the things that, once we get through the crisis, mean we are able to flourish in the future.”
“If survival is all we deal with, we will emerge from this, when the opportunities come, with a lack of capacity to take the opportunities.”
“An effective business deals with a crisis but looks to the future.”
Darlington Borough Council’s Leader, Councillor Bill Dixon pledged that, where possible, the organisation would look at whether positions that became vacant could potentially suit apprentices.
He said that it was important not to create a generation which had not only never worked, but didn’t develop the skills to thrive in the workplace.
He told delegates “We would all do whatever we can to help our kids. There are kids in this town who don’t have people like us to even up the odds a bit, that is where we can play a huge role.”
He said he understood some businesses may find it contradictory to be looking at taking on interns and apprentices at the same time as job cuts were happening, but he did not believe this to be the case.
He said: “One is about what you and I need to do now to get through today, the crisis we have got, the other is that we need to have a vision for the future. Those people who don’t plan for the future are set to live in the past.
“We need to make sure that when we come out of the malaise we are in we have a workforce of people who have been to work, know the feeling of getting up on a Monday morning and understand holding down a job.”
Alasdair MacConachie, Chairman of Darlington Partnership, is Managing Director of Vauxhall dealership Sherwoods which will take on at least ten apprentices this year.
He said: “One of the myths about apprenticeships and internships is that they cost money but if you maintain it, it doesn’t. Our apprentices contribute to the business after six weeks, working alongside the technicians and improving their productivity.”
For further information or if you or your business would like to get involved, please email business.support@darlington.gov.uk or call the Foundation for Jobs Coordinator, Owen McAteer, on 01325 388367.