WEC Group celebrate Apprentice Kieran's success
Looking for an alternative to classroom-based learning, Kieran became an apprentice at WEC Group Ltd after leaving high school at 16 years old. Fast becoming a stand-out employee and apprentice, Kieran went on to represent WEC Group Ltd at the WorldSkills UK competition in November. As one of the youngest competitors at only 17 years old, this was the first time he had entered the competition and he beat over 100 other entrants to earn a spot on the podium with a silver medal. With his extremely high performance in the competition and natural flair for engineering, Kieran has now been selected to be part of Squad UK, where he will now compete for a chance to represent the UK in the Construction Metalwork Category at the WorldSkills Competition which will take place in Shanghai, China in 2021.
Because of Kieran’s achievements on a national, and hopefully global scale, he is able to represent our organisation and put us on the map. He is a great testament to the extremely high standards of our Training Academy at WEC Group and increases our standing as an industry leading institute that can nurture the development of such an exceptional apprentice.
Kieran is a great asset for the Group but he is also a great ambassador for apprenticeships as a whole and more specifically, careers within the Engineering industry. Kieran regularly attends career events and school visits championing Apprenticeships as the best route into an engineering career. The Group has regularly been involved in various governmental campaigns to support apprenticeships and Engineering careers including National Apprenticeship Week 2020. Kieran has been a great channel for the Group to celebrate and promote these campaigns through various different channels including newspapers, videos, websites, internal newsletters and social media. To this end, we believe that Kieran’s contribution is not only vital to the company but that his contributions extend even further which is why, as an employer, we recently recognised Kieran by naming him our WEC Group Apprentice of the Year 2019. More recently, Kieran has also been named as our “Welder of the month” for July 2020, beating very experienced skilled welder/fabricators to the top spot thanks to his natural ability to produce excellent welds.
Kieran’s natural metalwork skill and diligence show a level of understanding for his craft that is not typically seen at his level of the apprenticeship program here at WEC Group, after less than 2 years in the job. His ability to learn an entire trade from scratch be able to perform to the highest standard in such a short period of time, almost as second nature, is extremely impressive.
Kieran’s performance on a national scale at WorldSkills UK and imminent selection to join Squad UK is testament to the exceptional talent that he possesses. He was one of the youngest competitors in the entire Competition at only 17 years old, and with only 12 months of training, he fought off tough competition from much older and experienced apprentices to obtain his silver medal and podium position. Kieran has also been successful in being awarded the aforementioned WEC Group Apprentice of the Year 2019.
The Academy encourages and facilitates the applications for our apprentices to the WorldSkills UK competitions annually. Kieran was one of the apprentices to be successful in qualifying upon his first entry in 2019 where he was able to achieve a silver medal in the Construction Metalwork event whilst still being one of the youngest competitors in the entire competition. It was here that he was recognized to potentially join Squad UK.
As well as the endless experience through his five year course, upon completion of his apprenticeship, Kieran will also be awarded the formal qualification of a Level 3 qualification in welding/fabrication and BS EN 9606 in coded welding. These formal qualifications will be crucial for Kieran going forward as he begins to work towards his personal career aspirations.
Kieran has now graduated from our Training Academy and he now works alongside our experienced welders on high profile multi-million pound projects including a 24 tonne stainless steel bridge and is unwavering in his attention to quality and work ethic.
Our training academy is still accepting apprentice applications for a January 2021 start. Visit our WEC Training Academy page to find out more and apply.