Education and Skills
Given a Fair Chance, Abdul proves the perfect fit As a Fair Chance Employer, Rugbybased Exact Logistics have shown their commitment to recruiting the best people regardless of complex backgrounds or needs. This has led to their appointment of Abdul Ataie, a 29-year-old from Afghanistan, who arrived in the UK determined to find work, contribute fully to society and look after his family. The result – a win-win for employer and employee. In the spring of 2023, Karen Shuter, owner of Exact Logistics, was struggling to fill a vacancy in their customs clearance office. She had received a lot of applications for the role but none from an applicant with the requisite skills and experience. Then into her inbox landed a very intriguing CV – that of Abdul Ataie. Abdul, his wife and young family arrived in the UK in January 2022. They first lived in a hotel in Northampton before settling in Coventry where he searched hard for work. Abdul was educated in India before, aged 17, joining the military back in his native country, Afghanistan. He went on to build a successful career, training at the National Military Academy in Kabul and working his way up to Head of the Planning Department, teaching and training others. While working full-time he also studied part-time at university to qualify as a doctor, which he did in 2020. When he moved to the UK, he wanted nothing more than to use his skills and qualifications to support his family. However, frustration followed as he applied for over 100 jobs without success. Then Abdul applied to Exact Logistics and his application caught Karen's eye. He impressed at interview and was hired - and has continued to impress ever since. He joined the company in May and hit the ground running, working on import and export paperwork, inputting data in preparation for HMRC. "I received lots of CVs for the role, but Abdul's definitely shone through,” said Karen. “I was keen to interview him to find out more about him and everything just fell into place. He got the job and is proving a fantastic recruit for us." The business is fully cognisant of Abdul’s family commitments and his hours of work are tailored accordingly. With savings he had accrued, he was able to buy a car to enable him to commute to work and, although the company can only currently offer 16 hours a week, Karen is hoping this will soon increase. She is conscious that, with Abdul's skills and experience, they may not have him for long, but they are loving having him on the team for now. Heather Docksey, Business Skills Support Advisor at Warwickshire Skills Hub, said: “By choosing to look beyond Abdul's CV, Karen was able to see the person behind the skills and qualifications. That has proved to be a life-changing decision for him and his family and a great decision for the buiness which has found a fantastic employee. “As a Fair Chance Employer, Exact Logistics have shown that, by being open to candidates from all backgrounds, they were able to recruit someone who is capable, enthusiastic keen and prepared to work hard.”
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Apprenticeship success continues to flow with MGTS & Triton Showers Emmaleigh Thornton is the latest recruit to join Triton Showers as an MGTS apprentice. Earlier this year, due to circumstances beyond her control, Emmaleigh was seeking a new employer just two years into her apprenticeship. Lee Beesley, her MGTS Training & Development Adviser (TDA) came to the rescue. “Lee went above and beyond to help me get another chance to finish my apprenticeship and I couldn’t thank him more. I really appreciate all that Lee and everyone at MGTS has done for me.” Emmaleigh said. “We have a longstanding relationship with Triton Showers, and I knew that Emmaleigh would fit in perfectly with her skill set, abilities, and aspirations. When employers, training providers and apprentices support each other with the goal of developing talent it’s a win-win all round.” Lee comments. Emmaleigh will be working alongside former MGTS apprentice Lewis
Brocklehurst. Lewis completed his apprenticeship in June 2022 and is currently employed as a Product Engineer. He tells us: “I enjoyed my apprenticeship and would highly recommend this pathway into the industry. I enjoyed the mix of working and learning so that I could develop work-based, industry specific and academic skills and knowledge at the same time, all whilst earning. “Lee was also my TDA, and I found him supportive and genuinely interested in my progression throughout the apprenticeship, always making time to resolve any issues I had. He would encourage me to complete the work to the best standard possible and ahead of schedule which allowed me to complete my End Point Assessment earlier than others. “The support from Triton has also been excellent and they continue to develop my learning in the workplace, continually expanding my knowledge and skills. This allows me to work on bigger, more
challenging tasks and projects and as a result I am becoming a better asset to the company. I can offer my resource to a wider range of tasks, helping achieve targets and deadlines. I am looking forward to supporting Emmaleigh and being part of the team that helps her develop into a valued, skilled engineer.”
Taylor Wimpey strengthens collaboration with WCG Taylor Wimpey has been working with Moreton Morrell College to develop its apprentice bricklayers – with the first cohort of apprentices passing their end point assessments with flying colours. The training scheme saw all eight apprentices qualify, within 18 months rather than the usual two year programme with many gaining Distinctions, and now a further 13 have been enrolled onto the Level 2 Bricklaying qualification.
As part of the collaboration, Taylor Wimpey created a training facility at Moreton Morrell College to enable bricklayers to practise their building skills. The success of the programme has led to an expansion of the existing facility to support the training of further apprentices, with plans to create a fullscale house on the college site to support the apprenticeship programme. It sees practical training combined with theory to help apprentices gain a greater understanding of the jobs a qualified
bricklayer is expected to carry out on a Taylor Wimpey site. Michelle Reid, Divisional Apprenticeship Manager at Taylor Wimpey, said: “Taylor Wimpey and WCG have worked together extremely well over the last 18 months to two years. “The partnership between the two is working extremely well and I look forward to more apprentices coming through the Taylor Wimpey training centre to allow us to fill the skills gap the construction industry is experiencing in the future. John Billings, Head of Work-Based Learning for Construction at Moreton Morrell College, said: “We were incredibly impressed with the first cohort of apprentices we trained from Taylor Wimpey and the future of the bricklaying profession is in safe hands. “We’re proud to be working in partnership with Taylor Wimpey to help develop the next generation of skilled people to deliver their developments.”
To find out more about brickwork courses at WCG visit www.wcg.ac.uk/study www.cw-chamber.co.uk
