Anyone following JGF Electrical on LinkedIn will have seen us showcasing our brilliant Apprentices – applause – thank you. If you know JGF, you’ll know how highly praised, trained, valued, engaged and incorporated our Apprentices are. Whether you are a small business or large and growing, your Apprentices today, make our futures tomorrow.
Apprentices who work together, stay together. Harry was the first of our Apprentices to complete his Apprenticeship and continues his career as a fully qualified and worthy Electrician with JGF.
We asked Harry a few questions to see how he is progressing within JGF Electrical. (In his own words):
- What do you like about working for JGF? “I like working for JGF as whenever I’m unsure about something I always get the help and assistance needed to progress”.
- What does your apprenticeship mean to you? “I feel privileged to have an apprenticeship as it is my future”.
- What is your favourite task to perform at work? “My favourite task is probably changing light fittings as I quite enjoy it, and also being taught new things as it helps expand my knowledge”.
- What is your favourite tool? “Favourite tool is probably continuity testers”.
Well, that was back then. Last week we were delighted Harry accepted a full-time position as an Electrical Engineer with the Team at JGF. He passed his exams in exemplary manner and continues to wear the JGF brand with pride.
If there is just one word that reflects our Apprentice strategy, it is: INCLUSION.
A JGF Apprentice is an Apprentice, certainly not cheap labour. If you haven’t done so, click the ABOUT page on the menu to see WHY, where Joe (MD) started, how important his mentoring by his Granddad was and his own Apprenticeship became.
All Apprentices have a full-on introduction to the business before being fitted with full company PPE and livery – no second best. Regular Apprentice Days take them off site and into the unit for a structured day of basic training. We have just moved, and the new site hasn’t had the Apprentice Pods fitted yet, but soon will.
Training continues off site as well as on the job, real jobs supervised by senior Electrical Engineers. Training is varied, including lots of H&S delivered by our bespoke H&S Practitioner, Michelle, including – safety harness checking and wearing, LOTO, PPE rules, regulations and priorities, First Aid and much more.
Yes, there’s lots of technical stuff, but we also want to train the mind, helping a basic school leaver find their personality and develop interactive skills so necessary in a Team such as TEAM JGF.
Inclusion goes so far as to include them in our popular AGMs, where they have a pounds and shillings, nuts and bolts, interactive insight to the business they are so very much part of.
Training is structured (as is everything at JGF). When you make an L in the summer and an E in the winter, and your harness training is re-visited, and the rumour of MEWP training echoes around the palatial heights of the new premises – well, you begin to wonder what Joe has in mind…
All training starts with the basics. MEWP training begins with the User Manual – we don’t just switch on and go. Rules say the Banksman should be able to handle the MEWP manually, from below, overriding problems above and getting his colleague down safely … so we practice it.
And finally, the training comes together as the jigsaw takes form.
New premises? An E? An L? Working at height training? Brand pride?