New Apprentice Opportunities with Highland Council
27th April 2015
The Highland Council is pleased to announce the recruitment of six new building maintenance apprenticeship positions in four different areas of Highland.
The apprenticeships available will be based in Dornoch, Alness, Inverness and Fort William and will cover painting, plumbing and joinery. In Inverness there will be one apprenticeship offered in Plumbing; two will be offered in Fort William, one in Plumbing and one in Painting; in Dornoch one Plumber and one Joiner will be sought; and in Alness one apprenticeship in Joinery will be offered. Applications can be made between the 1st and 15th of May through the myjobscotland website.
Typically, each year six new apprentices are taken on by the Council so that in total there are twenty four apprentices, all in different stages of their training, working across Highland each year.
Former Highland Council apprentice, and current Highland Council plumber, Michael Gordon from Ardross spoke of his experience in the Council's apprenticeship scheme, saying: "Having attended school in Alness, I applied for a Plumbing apprenticeship with Highland Council in 2009. Over the next three years, my time was spent between Inverness college and working with various Highland Council plumbers at our Alness Depot. After successfully completing my plumbing examinations at college, my fourth year was spent working alongside colleagues at the depot and carrying out small jobs alone to help build both my experience and confidence.
"At the end of my apprenticeship I applied for, and was successful in gaining, a full-time plumbing position within the Highland Council Building Maintenance depot in Alness."
He added: "Over the last two years I have worked on a variety of jobs, from fitting a simple tap washer to fitting new bathrooms and heating systems. I find it satisfying that my job involves helping people, and I enjoy the feeling of giving something back to the local community."
Director of Community Services, William Gilfillan, said: "I would encourage anyone who is considering beginning their career in building maintenance to apply for one of our apprenticeship scheme opportunities. The scheme not only gives our apprentices a formal qualification and skills for life, but also offers very good employment prospects at the end of the training period. The majority of our trainees are retained by the Council, while others secure employment with local companies."
The Council's Performance and Building Maintenance Manager Caroline Campbell added: “With the advancement of renewable energy the apprentices we take on are getting the chance to learn about working with these new technologies as well as gaining expertise on the more traditional skills associated with the trades."
The starting salary for an apprentice is £15,103 and this increases annually. Application forms and full details of the posts offered can be found on the Myjobscotland website (www.myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/highland-council) from the 1st to the 15th of May.
Related Businesses
Related Articles
At the Highland Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee. (Thursday 2 May 2024) Members had the opportunity to review the work the Council is doing to progress active travel and improve road safety before approving the next steps.
At the meeting of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee members had the opportunity to review the last two years of the Community Regeneration Funding Programme before agreeing changes to how the 2024/25 programme will be delivered. Committee Chair, Cllr Ken Gowans said: "Following a successful two years, it is a good time to review what has gone well and what can be done better so we can continue to build on success, and seamlessly move the focus onto how best to support the delivery of projects." "With 279 live projects and over £6million of committed funds still to be claimed, there is no doubt as to the value and impact of the programme's potential.
The Highland Council's In-House bus service pilot project was launched in January 2023. The success of its first year of operation in delivering savings and creating a valued and reliable service was highlighted at today’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee.
Members of Highland Council's Economy and Infrastructure Committee today (2 May 2024) approved the local authority's draft Ecology Strategy and Action Plan which will now move forward to an 12-week public consultation. The Ecology Strategy sets out an ambitious set of actions to tackle biodiversity loss and address the ecological emergency.
Economy and Infrastructure Committee members today (2 May 2024) agreed to direct £100K from the Council's share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to fund a new staff training programme at the Inverness Castle Experience. The funding will enable the project team to provide specialist visitor attraction training to young people identified through partners at Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).
The Housing and Property Committee met on Wednesday 1 May 2024 and noted the Housing Service performance report 2023/24 that met the agreed priorities and associated initiatives in the Local Housing Strategy 2023-2028. The report highlighted a number of achievements in 2023/24 in increasing housing supply.
Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council. Convener of the Council, Cllr Bill Lobban said: "I am delighted to say that Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council.
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
