Stansted welcomes new apprentices
National Apprenticeship Week (6-10 March) is organised by the National Apprenticeship Service to celebrate apprenticeships and traineeships and the positive impact they have on individuals, businesses and the wider economy.
The airport trained 22 apprentices last year and a similar number are expected to be recruited during 2017. Two of the airport’s latest apprentices are Amber Wright from Takeley and Julia Hultzer from Newport who started their training to become Customer Service Ambassadors on Monday (6 March).
Amber, said: “I have always loved helping and talking to people and the airport offered me a great opportunity. I’m really looking forward to working at Stansted as you are able to gain so much experience in many areas of the company and meet a wide variety of people.”
Chris Wiggan, Stansted Airport’s Head of External Affairs, said: “Our apprenticeships programme offers young, talented individuals the opportunity to begin their career on a structured and supported programme, as an alternative to continuing in higher education. We have a proven track record in recruiting apprentices, particularly within our engineering and customer service teams.
“Last year, we recruited and trained 22 apprentices, with most ending up in full time positions in customer services and engineering. This helps us to build our pool of talented youngsters and allows our experienced colleagues to pass on their invaluable knowledge to their future successors.
“Stansted Airport is already the biggest single employment site in the East of England and home to over 12,000 workers. With passenger numbers set to top 25 million passengers this summer, new airlines like Jet2 arriving later this month and ambitious plans for a new £130 million arrivals building recently unveiled, we are looking to increase the number of customer service and engineering apprentices we recruit to serve our growing airport.”
Skills and Apprenticeships Minister, Rt Hon. Robert Halfon MP, visited Stansted in December last year to see how the airport is boosting education, job and training opportunities for young people and jobseekers. The Minister talked to apprentices, trainees and former jobseekers that have benefited from the airport’s award winning training and education programmes and successfully found full time employment at Stansted.
Speaking during the visit in 2016, Skills and Apprenticeships Minister Robert Halfon said: “It was a fantastic opportunity to meet such motivated and talented young people who have been benefitting from the great opportunities and state of the art facilities on offer at both Aerozone Stansted and the airport’s Employment and Training Skills academy. It has been great to see Stansted’s commitment to developing quality apprentices in STEM areas, offering people the ladder of opportunity they need to secure long-term careers.”
