Having been brought up around trades from a young age, after leaving school Jacob decided to follow in his grandad’s footsteps by pursuing an electrical course at college. However, this wouldn’t be a straightforward case of training and progressing. Jacob was in college when Covid-19 hit and face-to-face teaching was impacted by the global pandemic.

As the country moved out of lockdown, Jacob accepted a place at NETA Training studying a Level 3 VRQ Subsidiary Diploma in Electrical. It was on this course, where he received support to apply for jobs and apprenticeships. This session led to a successful application for a Level 3 Maintenance Operations Engineering Technician Apprenticeship.

Jacob said: “My favourite part of doing an apprenticeship is doing the hands-on work. Training involves fault finding, problem solving, installations and more.

“The teaching staff are all lovely, spot on. If you do have a problem or you’re stuck with stuff, there’s always someone there who can help you out and push you forward.”

On what he hopes to do after his three-year apprenticeship, Jacob said: “I’d like to move onto my BTEC in Advanced Manufacturing Engineering and then go onto a HNC and get a degree.”

His advice to those who do secure an apprenticeship would be, “stick it out, it’s best to just learn.”

To find out more about apprenticeships at NETA, email info@neta.co.uk or call 01642 616 936.