Raytheon launches UK apprenticeship programme to address skills shortage in automotive industry
Raytheon Professional Services (RPS), a subsidiary of Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), has launched an apprenticeship programme to develop future generations of automotive technicians and after-sales personnel in the United Kingdom.
The apprenticeship programme consists of a comprehensive three-and-a-half-year course of study enabling students to develop skills through professional training and coaching while in the full-time employment of an automotive retailer. Training is delivered at four state-of-the-art centres across the UK, with coaching occurring at each student's place of employment. The programme prepares recruits for work in four automotive specialties: service technician, service advisor, parts advisor, and body and repair technicians. At programme completion, students earn national qualification.
"Recruiting talented and motivated individuals to become technicians is critical for the UK motor industry," said Steven Poggi, general manager of intraining National Training Programmes Scotland. "Raytheon's apprenticeship programme provides the much needed technical training and other benefits that will attract new recruits. It will create a pipeline of skilled technicians essential to maintaining high quality automotive service in the UK"
"The apprenticeship programme builds on RPS' 15 years of automotive retail training with organizations in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America," said Neil Johnson, RPS apprenticeship programme director. "In Europe alone last year, RPS delivered automotive retail training in 32 countries that totaled 122,000 participant days in the classroom and 46,000 participant days on the Web."
A business unit of Raytheon Technical Services Company LLC, RPS is a global leader in training services and outsourcing. With 800 learning professionals serving clients in 70 countries and 25 languages, RPS improves clients' business performance by redesigning how they train their employees, customers and partners; implementing their new training design; and managing their training in long-term outsourcing engagements.