An industrial placement has been the key for unlocking a future career for East Durham College student Callum Fishwick, who has now secured employment at Seaham-based engineering firm Kraftwerx as an engineering apprentice.
At East Durham College, many of our Level 2 and 3 course programmes include Industry Placements – substantial periods of work experience where learners will gain valuable experience at a local business, developing their practical and technical skills while learning from experienced staff members.
It is the aim of the programme to help learners with their transition into full-time, paid employment, an apprenticeship, or to move on to other options in further or higher education.
Callum, who is studying Level 2 engineering at East Durham College, started his placement at Kraftwerx in early 2020 after a successful interview.
Due to the outbreak of Corona Virus Callum’s industrial placement wasn’t without its hiccups, particularly throughout the lockdown period as businesses could not operate. Despite this, when at work Callum showed a keen interest in learning and consistently demonstrated a good skillset throughout his placement, impressing the team at Kraftwerx.
As a result of this hard work and dedication to learning, the team at Kraftwerx wanted to keep Callum on after his work placement ended. This resulted in Kraftwerx getting in touch with East Durham College’s apprenticeship team and soon after, Callum successfully moved from his industrial placement into a Level 3 engineering apprenticeship at Kraftwerx, where he has only continued to grow his skillset and become an extremely valuable member of the team.
Paula Snowdon, Industrial Work Placement Coordinator at East Durham College, is thrilled with Callum’s work ethic. “A huge well done to Callum! Not only has he gained a huge amount of new skills alongside his engineering qualification at EDC, but his employer has also been able to mould Callum into the type of worker required for this role before committing to an apprenticeship.
“Industrial placements like Callum’s are fantastic for our students to get a real taste of what work is like for a long period of time and with the right attitude like Callum’s, there’s a very real possibility for students of full employment after completing the placement and their course.”
For more information on industrial placements at East Durham College, please visit the Work & Industrial Placements Section >> or contact our Industrial Work Placement Coordinator on 0191 518 8318.
