This summer sees Arnold Clark welcoming 400 apprentices into the business, with the first intake of almost 150 starting in Scotland this week, with the rest starting in both Scotland and England over the next month.
Arnold Clark’s apprenticeship programme offers school leavers over 16 years of age the opportunity to learn skills and gain a recognised qualification. All apprentices will receive training as they work at one of Arnold Clark’s sites under the supervision of highly qualified mentors. Most will also attend week-long training blocks at an Arnold Clark industry-accredited GTG training centre. After gaining their qualifications, apprentices have the opportunity to grow their skills further and develop their career. Arnold Clark currently employs 835 apprentices, with 91% of them going onto a full-time position with the Group.
While many of the apprenticeships offered are for traditional motor trade roles such as technicians, spray painters, body repairers and parts advisors, there are also opportunities for apprentices in roles such as IT, engineering, customer service and business admin.
Eddie Hawthorne, Chief Executive and Group Managing Director said:
‘Apprenticeships are the lifeblood of Arnold Clark and they provide us with young talent to drive our business forward and help meet the needs of our customers. We know young people could attend college, university or some other form of further education, but it’s not for everyone. Apprenticeships allow young people to start on a career path from day one and earn while they learn.’
As a family-run business, we wanted to include our 2019 apprentices' families in their apprenticeship journey. So before they started their training, all apprentices attended an information session at our GTG Glasgow training facility where they were free to bring their family and get a sense of their new workplace, meet the trainers and find out about the career progression opportunities within the company.
Suzanne Sherry, Arnold Clark Early Careers Manager, said:
‘This year Arnold Clark is welcoming more apprentices than ever before and this is a fantastic opportunity for them to begin a career in the automotive sector. It can be a huge change for these young people but we give them everything that they need to succeed, with expert training and mentoring every step of the way. We’re proud of our track record of helping apprentices go on to a successful career, both at Arnold Clark and within the wider industry.’
Apprentices start their journey at GTG Edinburgh.