Driving Force: Apprenticeships

A Motor Vehicle employer industry event took place at East Sussex College this week (25th April) to give students an insight - and a headstart - into the trade.

All the main motor vehicle dealerships in and around Eastbourne attended the evening event, including Mercedes and the Birchwood and Yeomans groups, representing Ford, Kia, Skoda, Peugeot, Mercedes Nissan, Toyota and Honda.

The event enabled the College to showcase the student talent pool available to employers and the facilities where the students train, which mimic the real working environment.

Mark Streeter, Motor Vehicle tutor at ESC, said, “This evening demonstrated how we can support car dealers with apprenticeship training. Currently, the apprentices are sent away on block release, which can be at a huge expense to car dealers. We can now offer significant savings while still offering comparable training along with benefits of flexible and adaptable delivery. We also have a pool of candidates to trial through work experience before selecting a future apprentice.”

The event was well received, culminating in some great networking and a commitment of three new apprentices in September with more to follow.

Students interested in pursuing a career in the Motor Vehicle industry can find courses at East Sussex College here.

For more information on apprenticeships at ESC, please visit www.escg.ac.uk/apprenticeships.