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PRO INSTALLER FEBRUARY 2015
PRO RECRUITMENT
@proinstaller1
Consider a Career in Construction
Martyn Makinson, Managing Director of Ionic Recruitment, explains why now is the
opportune time for young people to consider a career in the construction sector.
“Recent research from totaljobs.
com examined employment rates for
‘entry-level’ candidates who have
gained a qualification and left education in 2014, and the research highlighted a positive change in attitude
toward skilled, blue-collar workers.
‘people have become
more confident about
changing jobs’
“Overall, 15% of entry-level candidates
were jobless a year after finishing their studies or training. However, among those who
had completed apprenticeships, just 5%
were unemployed, far less than the number
of unemployed graduates. This suggests that
vocational training is more desirable within
the job market than ever before, and young
people can benefit from this by choosing a
career in construction.
“The construction industry is currently experiencing a very strong period of growth,
which can be attributed, in part, to a strong
demand for new projects across the entire
construction sector.
“As market conditions have improved,
people have become more confident about
changing jobs and the companies who haven’t acted fast enough to implement retention strategies have ended up losing their
‘top talent’ to competitor businesses. This
has created employment gaps, which companies are keen to fill with apprentices.
“With the construction industry continuing
to boom in 2015, candidates can be selective about the companies that they choose
to work for. It’s currently very much a candidate driven marketplace, and so recruit-
ment agencies are more necessary to clients
than ever before in order to both identify
and attract the best talent.
“We predict a 45% increase in enquiries
from prospective employers in the first
quarter of the year, as companies look to
recruit new talent.
“We expect market conditions to steadily improve in the year ahead, with the
job market continuing to be buoyant; this
means that contractors are forced to change
their approach when it comes to competing
for the best talent and more importantly,
retaining their own staff.
“With the current employment gaps and
shortage of construction tradespeople, as
well as the recent findings from totaljobs.
com highlighting the growth in opportunities for apprentices, now is an opportune
time to consider a career as a tradesperson
within the construction sector.”
Injured marines given chance
of a new career with leading
Construction Company
Midas Construction has been transforming lives and
helping injured marines readjust to civilian life by providing
work placements on building sites in Devon and Cornwall.
Midas, one of the
largest independent
construction companies
in the South West, has
been working with The
C Group – a Royal Marines charity inspiring
businesses to support
marines during their
transition to civilian
life, often when their
military career had to
end prematurely as the
result of an injury.
As part of its ongoing
commitment to supporting
The C Group’s work, Midas
organised a long-term training placement at the site of
the £5million new Genesis
building being created for
the Millfields Trust in Plymouth.
Injured marine Gavin
Bolger was given vocational
training during his work
placement with the aim of
both helping him readjust to
civilian life, and opening up
future career opportunities
as a building site manager.
Tim Beattie, Senior Project
Manager at Midas Construction, said: “Gavin was
serving in Afghanistan in
2011 when he and several
others were hit by an IED
when on patrol, and he was
left injured