Jones Engineering have a proud history of training Apprentices in the Plumbing and Electrical disciplines. We have had multiple winners in National and International Apprentice competitions and we continue to train our Apprentices internally in our purpose-built Apprentice Academy to supplement the off-the-job training received while in ETB’s and IT’s around the country.
Our involvement with the Access to Apprenticeship Programme started in 2017 in Dublin where we were one of the regular employers in attendance at the ‘Speed dating’ event where we have given work experience to many aspiring Apprentices and some of those are still with us today.
Then in more recent times, we got the phone call from Susan Meagher and Pat Galvin asking if we would get involved in the programme in Limerick.
We have some long-term projects in Limerick and this seemed like a good fit for us, so we agreed to come along to the ‘Speed dating’ events and chat to the many students who have passed through A to A in Limerick over the ensuing years.
We have started two Plumbing and two Electrical Apprentices since then and all are still going strong within Jones Engineering.
Just last week I had the pleasure of attending more ‘Speed dating’ with the most recent group of students. The sixteen students told us how nervous they were at the beginning and then proceeded to ask us their pre-prepared questions and answer anything they were asked in a very professional manner with no sign of nerves at all.
As one of the fourteen employers who were present on the day, it was a pleasure to speak with such a confident group and to hear similar sentiment from each employer as we gave our individual feedback to the room at the end of the session.
We look forward to giving work placement to at least one student from this current group, following onto a full Apprenticeship for a successful candidate.
Susan and Pat have done a fantastic job with each and every student who has passed through their scheme and I hope they will continue to influence the local community in this way for a long time to come.