U.K. Automakers Team to Fill Apprentice Pipeline

BMW Group is the latest automaker to link up with other U.K. car manufacturers to launch an apprenticeship-matching service intended to develop the skilled workforce.

The service was developed and funded through the Automotive Industrial Partnership, an industry-skills collaboration supported by the government. It aims to help up to 10,000 high-quality candidates a year secure an automotive apprenticeship.

The idea is the companies will collaborate to help candidates when the company apprenticeship programs are oversubscribed.

BMW Group employs more than 200 apprentices across its U.K. operations and receives about 1,000 applications for about 50 places each year.

The matching service is expected to be of particular help to the wider automotive supply chain, ensuring help for high-caliber candidates seeking a career in the sector.

Along with BMW, employers driving the partnership include Bentley, Ford, GKN, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Toyota and Vauxhall.

Research conducted for the Automotive Industrial Partnership by the Science, Engineering, Manufacturing and Technologies Alliance indicates a shortage of adequate training in the sector could impact the skills needed to sustain automotive productivity, particularly in manufacturing and engineering disciplines.

The report complements earlier research that found up to 5,000 vacancies in the sector could be vacant due to a lack of skilled job candidates.

Simon Farrall, head of apprentice and associate training at BMW Group and AIP vice chairman, says BMW every year receives many more applications than there are places available.

“There are some very capable candidates who apply to us and we don’t want to simply turn people away,” Farrall says in a statement. “By introducing these candidates to the matching service, engineering businesses can access these quality applicants, which enables them to recruit more effectively,” he says.

AIP Chairman Jo Lopes, head of technical excellence at Jaguar Land Rover, says despite the automotive sector’s lengthy history of providing apprenticeships it can do more to attract and support the new-talent pipeline.