MAYBE THE PENNY HAS DROPPED
Real training for real jobs
IF you haven’t already done so, I urge all dealers to complete our Annual Dealer Survey (below). We had a healthy number of returns last week which are already providing an interesting picture of the way business has shaped up during 2013.
The results will be announced in the January/February issue of the new-look Service Dealer magazine, but already one startling result is that almost 75% of the dealerships who have responded do not a have a single apprentice
Now the weight of the survey is slanted towards garden machinery dealers at the moment, with less than 10 employees, but this comes at time when business is upping its call for more vocational training.
A recent report by the CBI took a general swipe at the education system saying that “it continued to focus young people on the ‘default’ university route."
Chris Jones of City and Guilds has weighed in saying the majority of businesses believe the current education system failed to meet their needs. He added, “In recent years, society has placed too much attention on academia. Employers are crying out for young people with the right skills to add value to their business”.
So maybe the penny is finally dropping. And don’t get me started on those hopefuls with a ‘media degree’ who think that it is a passport to a starring role in the public spotlight.
But if the mood for more practical and vocational training is taking hold, (and why shouldn’t there be a GCSE in engineering?) then it also means that industries have got to sharpen up their act. They have to able to poke their head above the parapet, and be able to say with clarity “choose us, this is what we have got to offer’.
For a niche and under-reported industry, we have probably got to shout louder than most - and we could start by doing much more to ‘shout’ about our own, our very own, LTA Scheme which appears to have slipped well under the radar. It’s an initiative developed by the industry, for the industry - but today more than often described as the industry’s best kept secret.
Chris Biddle
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