At EDC, we mean BUSINESS.
That’s why we’re the perfect college to partner with to source the next generation of your engineering workforce.
Our engineering apprenticeship service is fully bespoke to your unique business aims – we completely understand every business is different and has their own requirements, and that’s why everything we do is tailored to you.
With years of experience in matching businesses with the right candidates, comprehensive support throughout your apprenticeship programmes and a college that is big enough to deliver, but still small enough to care about your business, there’s no better place in the north east than East Durham College to partner with for your apprenticeships.
Our Tailored Approach
Once you’re in touch with the apprenticeship team here at EDC, we’ll arrange a sit down meeting to discuss your requirements at your earliest convenience.
We’ll discuss how we can support you every step of the way and answer any questions you may have about our apprenticeship service. Whether you want to pop into the college for a cuppa in our restaurant and tour our incredible engineering facilities, or if you’d prefer us to come to you, it’s all possible.
When we fully understand how we can work together, we’ll start making a plan for you, and make sure you’re updated regularly with how things are progressing.
Book in a chat with the team by clicking here, or keep scrolling for more information.
Step 1: Matching You with the Right Engineering Apprentices
When you work with East Durham College, you’ll benefit immediately from our in-house recruitment service.
We’ll advertise your vacancy for engineering apprentice(s) on our college website (which regularly gets thousands of visitors) and we’ll pre-screen all of the applicants for you. We also have a bank of previous applicants who might be the right fit for your workforce.
New candidates will be invited into college for an initial interview and skills assessment, where we will determine their suitability for your vacancy.
Once we think we’ve found the right people, we’ll get in touch with you to see how you feel about each candidate and organise interviews at your premises.
Then it’s up you! At this point hopefully you’ll find the perfect engineering apprentice(s) for you.
But that’s not all from us – this is just stage one. EDC are your partner throughout the apprenticeship, and our service doesn’t stop with recruitment. That’s why we say we’re big enough to deliver and small enough to care.
Step 2: Supporting Your Engineering Apprentice(s)
Found the right person for you? Amazing! Now it’s time for your new apprentices’ training to begin.
As an employer, your staff will be responsible for ensuring that the apprentice learns a wide variety of new skills, supported by the expertise of your current workforce.
Alongside this, you can expect regular support from East Durham College’s apprenticeship team.
Firstly, your engineering apprentice(s) will be assigned a trainer/coach, who will regularly visit you at your premises to observe and mentor your apprentices’ development directly and you as their employer.
Your apprentice(s) will also complete weekly day release where they attend training here at East Durham College. They’ll get access to the incredible engineering facilities at our Peterlee campus, supported by the expertise of our long-serving engineering lecturers who have years of experience working in the industry.
Step 3: Apprentice No Longer – Here’s Your New Full-Time Staff Member
The ultimate goal of any apprenticeship is to give you, as an employer, a brand new dedicated member of staff who is keen to learn and will add great value to your business.
With the right support in place from you and the team here at East Durham College, the ideal outcome is for your apprentice to be offered full-time employment once they’ve completed their apprenticeship.
After all, at the end of their apprenticeship, they’ve got the skills, know your business and – hopefully! – will have impressed you during their time with our organisation.
Then, who knows! You may have been so impressed with your apprentice, you’re ready to take on your next one.
We can 100% guarantee after experiencing how the team at EDC really cares about your apprentices, you’ll have the perfect person in mind to continue to partner with going forward.
Engineering Apprenticeships Available
Over the years, the team at EDC have worked extremely closely with many different engineering employers in our region, and currently offer the following engineering apprenticeship standards up to Level 4:
- Level 2 Lean Manufacturing
- Level 2 General Welder
- Level 3 Metal Fabricator
- Level 3 Engineering Technician (Product Design & Development)
- Level 3 Engineering Technician (Technical Support)
- Level 3 Engineering Technician (Mechatronics)
- Level 3 Engineering Technician (Toolmaker)
- Level 3 Improvement Technician
- Level 4 Improvement Practitioner
Working in Partnership with Leading Engineering Employers
At East Durham College, we want to create a long-term working relationship with your business.
This isn’t just a “one-and-done" deal; if you’re looking for recruitment of talented apprentices, we want to be the partner you rely on.
Many different engineering firms across our region are already benefitting from East Durham College’s apprenticeship service, and we’re extremely proud to say we work with such companies including Hydram Engineering, Marelli and Alexander Battery Technologies.
Here’s what some of them had to say about our apprenticeship service:
“EDC’s apprenticeship programme has been a real benefit to Katmex , the quality of training received from the provider has created an environment where our apprentices develop and retain a high level of not only academic but hands on, practical skills they use everyday in the workplace.”
- Nathan Wall, Senior Production Engineer at Katmex