Watch the full interview with Bob Gaskell.
For National Careers Week, Contractors Director and crucial cog in the CU Phosco Lighting machine, Bob Gaskell, sat down with Digital Marketing Executive Rob Larkin, to discuss the importance of setting up young people for their careers as well as how crucial it is for businesses to employ young people.
“Before we start talking about National Careers Week and what that entails, can you give us a bit of an introduction please?”
“Bob Gaskell, Contracts Director of CU Phosco Lighting. I’ve been in the post now for 24 years, we install and maintain High Mast Lighting amongst many other things.”
“Why is it so important for young people to be aware of a future career? Why is it important to kick that off so early?”
“I think it’s very important.
Over the last few years young people suffered regarding the pandemic. They were isolated, it affected their education and their confidence to look at opportunities after school or in college.
These qualifications aren’t always academic, they can be life skills; communication, being able to work with people of all age groups and developing their confidence.
It’s not all about having Maths, Science and English, it’s about having a rounded person that employers are looking for. Someone who wants to work.
Bob continued “There’s plenty of opportunities not to be solely inside and in an office. There’s lots of opportunities to use your hands, use your intelligence. It’s not just using tools, there’s lots of technology you learn to use – PDA’s, recording test results, understanding test results, there’s lots of young people don’t consider.”
“Through my role as an Enterprise Advisor with local schools, which I started doing two years ago – we go to local schools, careers fares, setting up local employer forums at schools. Employers can give 5-10 minutes a month, through Teams meetings, to generate interest in what they do. Being in the working group for the Trailblazer Apprenticeships with the HEA, it has become more apparent that we as employers need to break down these barriers.
I’m sick of hearing that the Youth of today don’t want to work. That’s a load of rubbish.”
“How much interest do you get at say, a Careers Fare?”
“I’ll give you an example… Two years ago I attended a local school, with just a table top display of some of the stuff we do, and from that, we got groups of young people who the had been set three questions to ask prospective employers.
One of those lads was Euan Beveridge, I then had an advert out on the National Apprenticeship website for Highway Electrical Apprenticeships – which Euan responded to.
Euan was only 16, so he was a little bit young. I got him in for an interview, with his mum and dad. I explained the situation that he would be working away a lot, he would be going to the School of Apprenticeships in Derby with EON. He needed to understand that perhaps he wasn’t quite old enough to start out in the workplace in full.
SO what we did as a company, because he was keen to join us, we set him up on a City and Guilds Electrical Installation Foundation course, whilst giving him a retainer of £50, and we pay for his bus pass.
That sounds basic, but as an employer, we’re showing interest in him. He’s now been with us 6 months, he’s 17 years old, we’ve paid for his theory test for his driving, as it’s an integral part of the job and we’ve paid for 10 practical driving lessons – and he’s joining us in September.
“How does CU Phosco Lighting benefit from the work you do with young people? Why is it so important to hire young people?”
“I’ll rewind to three or four years ago… Andy Kay my Operations Manager came up to me and said “do you know the average working age of our operatives? Mid-forties.” Because people who join us, tend to stay.
At that point I was elected as the Apprentice champion, and how was I going to do that? That’s how I ended up visiting local schools. The benefits are that we’re bringing younger people into the team, and the team as well, get a lot of pride mentoring these individuals, as well as the knowledge transfer, it’s paramount to our specialist requirements. You can’t just pick someone off the shelf to be a high mast lighting operative.”