Rotherham College to Train New Premier Foods Engineering Apprentices
Rotherham College, in partnership with RNN Training, is celebrating a recent tender success that will see the College deliver Engineering Apprenticeships for Premier Foods’ apprentices working in Barnsley and Worksop.
Crucial factors in Premier Foods choosing RNN Training and Rotherham College were the ‘superb’ facilities at the College and links to the National Fluid Power Centre as well as the potential to recruit from a pool of students with existing entry-level engineering qualifications and a clear pathway to further study.
The food manufacturing business, that creates well-known brands you find in almost all kitchen cupboards including OXO, Sharwoods and Batchelors, see apprenticeships as a vital part of succession planning, helping ensure that the workforce of the future has the skills required in the food manufacturing industry.
Premier Foods’ Apprenticeship and Graduate Manager Julie Harris oversees the apprenticeship programmes across the business.
Julie said: “Apprenticeships play an important part in our talent pipeline and succession planning. It is essential that we can nurture new colleagues and we look for apprentices who have a passion for learning, engineering, innovation and food!
“There will be plenty for apprentices to get their teeth into: we always have lots of engineering activity from maintaining the machines, installing new equipment, developing creative solutions to complex problems; and working with teams and designing new procedures for new products.
“As a food business we’ve continued to operate throughout the current crisis, and we’ll be able to collaborate with RNN Training and the College to share best practice when it comes to social distancing and innovative ways of communicating, such as training using headsets.”
RNN Training Senior Skills Consultant and Levy Specialist Simon Hartley will be working closely with Premier Foods to help recruit apprentices and the teaching staff at the College to ensure that the apprenticeships run smoothly.
Simon said: “It’s fantastic to have the opportunity to work with Premier Foods who are an industry-leading business. I think what this also highlights is the sheer scale of jobs within an industry. At its heart, Premier Foods is a food business, but the scale at which they work means that they employ so many different professions.
“I think it’s testament to Premier Foods that even with the current crisis they are thinking of the future and see the real value that apprenticeships can play in providing a highly-skilled workforce for the future.”
View current apprenticeship vacancies at Premier Foods here.