Sheffield youngsters are gaining hands on experience working for the city’s highways maintenance contract, developing invaluable skills to prepare them for their future careers.
With a contract of employment and the chance to work across many areas of the business, being an apprentice at Streets Ahead has numerous benefits.
Since 2012, a total of 85 young apprentices from Sheffield, over the age of 16, have been employed by Amey locally and many of them have gone on to secure a permanent job.
Like Alex, who started at Streets Ahead as an apprentice four years’ ago and has since gone on to become a Team Leader at the Ecclesfield office. Alex also won a Group-wide Amey Star Award earlier this year for outstanding achievement.
Alex says of her time as an apprentice, “I chose Amey for my Apprenticeship after reading up on the company and realising it was a large organisation that could potentially offer me big opportunities.
“I also wanted to make a long-term career out of my Apprenticeship, hence why I chose Amey as I knew this could be possible.
“The role I was in at the time was a Pre-Works Coordinator. This job included dealing with operatives, managing performance requirements and monitoring live dashboards on the internal IT system. I dealt with customer enquiries whilst planning the work in to be completed within a specified time.
“I’ve learnt a lot and gained knowledge on the operations side of the business, as well as learning about myself along the way. I felt like my confidence grew whilst in this role and I believe I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. I learnt that if you put the work in, you do get noticed and you become a valuable team member.”
Amey is dedicated to investing in its employees and creating a talented, diverse and sustainable workforce.
Since 2012 the company has hired over 278 apprentices who, in addition to their technical and personal development training, have the opportunity to complete their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
Helen Johnson, Community Engagement Manager added: “We are very proud of our apprentices and everything they achieve whilst working with us in Sheffield. There is no doubt that the best way of learning is by doing it, and many of them go on to surprise themselves with what they can achieve.
“Our group from two years ago are just finishing their Apprenticeships, and seven of them have already secured permanent jobs across a wide variety of occupations here at the Depot; from Grounds and Highway Maintenance, to the Commercial team, Arboriculture and Customer Services.”
James, who has secured a job in the Arboriculture team, says of his experience so far, “As a Tree Surgeon apprentice I’ve gained experience and qualifications that in another apprenticeship, I might have had to pay for. I’ve had an insight into a new role; as I was working as a joiner before and I took a chance starting as a Tree Surgeon- but it turns out I really like the job!”
To find out more about the Streets Ahead programme visit: www.sheffield.gov.uk/streetsahead
For more on Apprenticeships with Amey, visit: www.amey.co.uk/your-career/apprentices
