Apprenticeship Program
As part of its continued growth over the past few years, Soilfix has expanded its standard recruitment policy for developing Early Careers within the Remediation Industry through apprenticeship and graduate recruitment pathways.
We have recruited a graduate Remediation Engineer every year for the past three years (our third graduate, Leo Marcillac, has recently started at our Essex Office) and set out a clear pathway for Training and Development (including focussed, practical, ‘on-the-job’ mentoring). After the first 12 months, we identify the preferred career pathway together with our graduate (following either a technical, supervisory or combined route) and enrol them on a vocational qualification. For example, we have recently promoted our Graduate Remediation Engineer, Sam Laliberte, to Remediation Engineer, having worked with Soilfix for 12 months. Sam’s current preference is for more of a site-based role, including remediation supervision, therefore has been enrolled on an NVQ Level 3 in Construction Site Supervision.
Having explored various options for apprenticeships tied to local colleges, as a business, we have struggled to find a suitable ‘remediation apprenticeship’ pathway for potential candidates. This is due to the niche industry that we work in – presenting a constraint whereby many colleges only offer more rigid ‘one size fits all’ construction-related qualifications that each many skills that a remediation practitioner would not use on our projects.
Notwithstanding the above, we have continued to explore apprenticeships as an effective means to recruit (and develop) new staff. Soilfix engaged its first apprentice in 2021, recruiting an Accounting & Finance Apprentice, Jack Jones, who is undertaking a 3-year (Association of Accounting Technicians – AAT) qualification at BPP College.
We look forward to observing our trainees as they expand their knowledge and develop their careers as our future-generation remediation specialists.
