T Level Engineering students at Sandwell College are being offered real employment potential as junior engineers at hydraPower dynamics.
Level 3 learners Tayaab, Ethan and Marik have benefited from real-world workshop experience with the company which manufactures and supplies high quality fluid handling assemblies across a multitude of industries – with the chance of becoming fabricator welders.
Let’s hear more about what they’ve gained during their course:
Tayaab’s Take on T Levels: “T Levels give students the opportunity to get experience in the workplace, and the theory and practical all in one. This course has given me the chance to understand what it’s like in working life. I would recommend this course to anyone that’s looking to go into this side of engineering as it allows you to have a good future.”
Ethan’s Take on T Levels: “T Levels give me an opportunity to be in the workshop, doing the things I like, working on machines with various materials. We also go on trips to factories to see how these machines are being used in the workplaces. Most of the time we are hands on, either working on materials and shaping them to match the drawings or doing maintenance on a machine, checking parts, making sure they’re in working order, and then refitting them. T Level gives us an extra edge over students who haven’t taken the T Level because we’ve got the qualification and the work experience to back it up. There are many different paths you can go down in the future and it gives you a wider variety of business opportunities.”
Marik’s Take on T Levels: “Personally I enjoy all the workshop experience. I enjoy all the opportunities T Levels allow us to go into different factories to see engineers at work. The college arranged for me to actually experience what it’s like in the workplace. After a probation period I will get the opportunity to train as a welder.”
Sonia Smalling, HR Business Partner at hydraPower dynamics, explains further the benefits of T Levels at an organisational level: “Initially it was part of our corporate social responsibility effort, and so the benefit for hydraPower was being able to invest in the community and help youngsters, but during the placement we’ve been able to offer these students the opportunity to learn a wider range of skills, to apply what they’ve learnt on their T Level courses and also to give them the insight of what work life is like, and hopefully boost their employability and confidence to excel within their career pathways.
“Personal development has been quite striking among the young people and over the weeks we’ve seen them become more confident and more radiant when they arrive. From a technical point of view it’s been really refreshing to see that they’ve spent a lot of time in the workshop studying, learning a lot of the theory behind the technical skills and it’s almost that a-ha moment when they can apply what they’ve learnt during the last two years at college.
“They get a real insight into their chosen profession and the benefit for the employer to have T Level students is just endless. It’s great to be able to help your local community and youngsters. It’s helped with recruitment as the T Level students have come in with a good foundation of knowledge, and the college has assessed them so we know they’re going to be potential employees. Having the students here has provided some of the established workers with an opportunity to become mentors, and we have some supervisors here who we are going to further develop.
“Helping the next generation is so worthwhile and ethically rewarding. There are bottom line advantages as productivity levels increase for the 45 days you have students on site. Recruitment becomes more effective so there is a clear return on investment a lot sooner than you would expect.”
