CASE STUDY: HB Doncaster Craig Richardson
News
8th February 2010
Craig Richardson started an apprenticeship with HB Training in Groundworks, in June 2008, when he was 17 Craig had always been interested in construction work, so at 16, when he left school, he heard about construction apprenticeships through his local Connexions careers office and applied straight away.
“When I applied for the apprenticeship scheme, I was invited to attend a recruitment day,” says Craig, “where I sat an aptitude test that asked questions based around site drawing plans. Because this was an area that I was really interested in, I did well and was offered a place. I had applied the previous year to start a HB apprenticeship but I didn't get through and wasn't accepted. However, I didn't let this put me off applying again the following year.”
“When I started I did a four week stint at the training centre in Doncaster, practicing and leaning key skills such as working with tower scaffolds and tressels. After this, I went straight out on to site for a four week placement at a small local building firm. I really enjoyed working on a real project, which was a new playground development. It was a big project with lots of concrete ramps and steps to build, and plenty of general landscaping and groundworks. I found that I learnt even more on site doing the job for real!”
“At the end of my first placement I went back to the Training Centre and began working on further developing my skills and starting the paperwork required for my NVQ portfolio. I got on well with all the HB tutors who were really helpful, and the other trainees too. I made lots of good friends and I’m still in touch with many of them.”
“My next placement was at Morrison Construction. This was my final seven month placement where I worked on site building a flood defence wall on the river in Spotborough in Doncaster. It was a great opportunity to really practice everything I had learnt up till then and it also enabled me to fulfil all the practical criteria I needed to complete my NVQ portfolio - which you need to qualify. Everyone on site was helpful, offering advice and guidance.”
“I got on well at Morrison’s and the site manager told me to get back in touch once I’d completed my apprenticeship. I still had three weeks left to do at the training centre to complete my NVQ qualification. So, at the end of those three weeks I contacted the site manager at Morrisons to let him know I’d passed my apprenticeship and he offered me a full time job straight away to start the following Monday!”
Link: http://www.mylwa.co.uk/news/2010/02/08/case-study-hb-doncaster-craig-richardson/
