NEMTA students enjoy eye-opening bodyshop visit
North East Accident Repair Centres opened their doors to school leavers recently to highlight the range of jobs available in a modern body repair workshop.
NEMTA (North East Motor Trade Apprenticeships) took students from Mortimer College and Joseph Swan School to visit North East Accident Repair Centres, the largest local independent bodyshop owned and managed in North East England.
The students were split into groups then taken on a tour of the different departments in the bodyshop, where they were shown all the different job roles involved in getting accident damaged vehicles repaired to a high standard and on schedule.
The students not only had a chance to see how a bodyshop worked but how the business worked as a whole. Subsequently, five attendees have asked to be interviewed for an apprenticeship.
Mark Askew from NEMTA said, ‘It was great to see the interaction between employer and pupil, the pupils and accompanying teachers seemed genuinely interested and surprised at the variation of jobs and salaries available within the bodyshop industry.’
Roger Collings, director from North East Accident Repair Centres, said, ‘Skills shortage is probably the largest issue facing our business and industry. Historically we have not done enough as an industry, to attract the right talent from school leavers. We want to engage with school leavers, to showcase as a business, what we can offer as a career.
‘Whilst we are predominantly looking for staff for the shop floor, we can offer a career path for those wishing to progress into junior and middle management, if they desire. By engaging with school leavers, we want to change the poor perception of the industry and demonstrate a varied and stable career, with good career development opportunities and earnings potential.’
