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The Power of Apprenticeship

At Calder Security it’s not just the systems that are secure, we also offer pretty impressive job security. We are a company with a very low staff turnover. Many staff have been here for a number of years including Phil Lynskey who founded the company and then later sold to current MD, Simon Cook (Phil now works as Sales Manager) and Steve Baker the locksmith who has been here since 1987. In actual fact, since Simon bought the company in 2006 nobody has actually resigned; that’s testament to how people feel about working here!

While we have of course recruited qualified engineers, something we feel strongly about is our apprenticeship programme: taking on a young person with no experience and training them up to become qualified security engineers. Two members of the team came up through this route and now we have a vacancy for another.

Our Previous Apprentices

Arran Barton started at Calder Security as an apprentice engineer in 2006, aged 16. He completed a 3 year apprenticeship and on qualification worked on servicing and installation of systems all over the UK. In 2013 his career with the company took a new turn when he was promoted to Contracts Manager. Arran is now responsible for overseeing all contracts and coordinating the engineers.

Arran spoke of his experience of working at Calder Security:

“I’m really pleased with how my career has progressed since starting at Calder Security. The experience I gained as an apprentice and then an engineer has given me skills across the whole range of electronic security systems. This experience is invaluable in my role now as contracts manager and the opportunity has brought new challenges and responsibilities which I have really enjoyed.”

Jordan Gorner, former apprenticeOur most recent apprentice, Jordan Gorner, has recently embarked on the start of his career as a qualified engineer having completed his own apprenticeship in just 2 ½ years; shaving 6 months off the usual minimum term of 3 years. Jordan said: “I’ve really enjoyed working for Calder Security and learning on the job. I’ve had a lot of support from everyone, in particular the engineers who I have been shadowing and learning from. I’m really pleased to have completed my training and be going out on jobs of my own.”

Apprentice Vacancy

Because Jordan has now completed his training it creates a vacancy for a new apprentice as we are always planning for the future. MD Simon Cook explains why apprenticeships are important to the company:

“Taking a young person on with no experience may seem like a challenge, or even a liability, to some companies. We look at it as an opportunity. It takes a long time for them to gain the knowledge and experience to be able to take on their own jobs but it reaps its own rewards in the long term for us and for them. We get a person with no pre-conceptions or bad habits and they learn to do things according to our own systems and protocols. Giving them the support that they need throughout their training means that they learn at an appropriate pace and always know what’s expected of them. You then create a long term employee who will add value to the company and more than make up for the investment in their early development.”

No experience or qualifications are required, just a willingness to learn. A technical mind and an interest in electronic systems would obviously be useful. Apprentices learn on the job, shadowing our engineers and gradually taking on more responsibility throughout their training. We pay a fair wage and on qualification apprentices stay on as security engineers so the long term prospects are extremely good.

With only one apprenticeship available every 3 years, this is a rare opportunity to join a fantastic team. Calder Security is Yorkshire’s leading independent security company and still growing year on year.

Details of the job are here. Applicants should send their CVs to Simon Cook at simon@caldersecurity.co.uk