National Apprenticeship Week at Zircotec
We are proud to be a part of National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) 2023, showcasing how the future of Zircotec is shaped through the National Apprenticeship scheme.
For National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) 2023, we decided to shine a light on our very own apprentices, sharing their stories, celebrating their achievements and showcase the opportunities we provide here at Zircotec.
With this year’s NAW theme centred around #SkillsForLife, we will be highlighting how apprenticeships at Zircotec supports personal development, knowledge base, skills and opportunity for a rewarding career. This in turn offers Zircotec an ever-growing and talented workforce to support our long-term business goals for future growth.
Don’t just take our word for it, let’s hear from our very own apprentices the benefits of starting a career at Zircotec:
Jack’s Story
Jack joined Zircotec in 2021, the time when Covid-lockdown hit. He had undergone a weeks’ work-experience at Zircotec in 2020 with our Engineering Department working on CAD. He decided CAD & Design wasn’t for him, as he wanted something that was a bit more hands-on. Zircotec was able to offer an apprenticeship within the Heat Shielding team which is far more hands on. Jack says that the thing he enjoys the most working here is the freedom on jobs, especially when it comes to development projects, whereby there’s less set working patterns to them. He also says that he likes the whole atmosphere, adding, “It’s my home from home, sometimes better than home! The people around me are brilliant!”
A typical working day for Jack is very busy, after checking in with the Team Leader, he gets started with his projects for the day. Jack says that the projects are quite diverse, making no one day the same. One day he’s working on an OEM Hypercar development project, and the other he’s working on a government-funded clean-fuel vehicle project, which keeps things quite interesting for him! He finds it particularly exciting when he knows he’s working on a crucial part for a world-class F1 team.
Which superpower is the best and why? “I wouldn’t want to be invisible as I think everyone has felt invisible at some time in their life. I would much prefer having the ability to put a smile on someone’s face.”
When asked what he had learnt since joining, Jack said: “Patience; working around people and how they react on different occasions, teamwork, working to deadlines, how to build bespoke parts for high performance vehicles, as well as learning a lot about myself. I started work on our ZircoFlex product range and had to train for 8 months before I got cracking on our full metallic heat shield fabrication work. This taught me how to be resilient, and how to get things done, as well as how to be independent. I now get people asking me for advice…”. It’s certainly been a pleasure to have seen how Jack has grown personally and professionally over the last few years.
Cory’s Story
Cory made the switch from school to Zircotec last year, after finishing 6th form with strong grades. After hearing Jack’s story from a friend at school, he reached out to Jack and within 3 days, he was invited to tour Zircotec and was subsequently offered an apprenticeship.
Similar to Jack, it was the hands-on tasks that drew his attention to Zircotec. Cory explained, “I thrive on doing stuff. It’s all hands-on and I like cars so it’s the best of both worlds”. Cory loves the fact that he’s contributing to several world-class vehicle builds, the next project always comes with a sense of excitement as he wants to know what high performance car he might be working on next.
Who would play you in a movie about your life? – “Ryan Reynolds, who is quite funny.”
Cory loves learning the niche, market-leading metal fabrication work, whilst also experiencing a real-world work environment for the first time. Cory adds, “I have also become more self-disciplined, whilst picking up both social and practical skills along the way”. As with Jack, it has been great to see Cory’s development since joining, and we look forward to seeing his journey continue.
Emir’s Story
Emir has been with Zircotec for over two years, after finishing his Level 3 diploma before joining Zircotec. He was introduced by his best friend in 2020 who was already working at Zircotec. After spending time in various disciplines at our Heat Shielding dept., Surface Preparation, etc. He decided he was most interested in training to become an engineer. To make his dream of becoming an Engineer a reality, he believed a university degree would benefit him greatly. After consulting with Zircotec on his new career aims and objectives, Zircotec opted to support Emir’s aspiration by funding his Degree in Manufacturing Engineering at University of Gloucestershire, the rest as they say is history.
If money were no object, how would you spend one year traveling the world? – “Italy first, and the whole of Europe then Asia, 3 months in the Americas, 3 months in Bali”
A typical day for Emir evolves around client meetings, 3D printing, CAD work, research and more! He finds it very exciting to face new challenges, of which he can conquer and learn from which also helps with his learning in tandem with his University studies.
View our careers page for more information.