Schools and colleges have broken up and, aside from the unpredictable weather, this means lots of young people will now be nervously waiting for their exam results and preparing for the next stage of their life.
While some will know exactly what they want to do, others might still be considering the options. For anyone considering a career in construction but not knowing where to start, we’ve got three steps you could follow in this week’s blog.
In its ‘State of the Trade’ survey, published last October, the Federation of Master Builders found that 60% of small-to-medium sized construction companies had pressed the pause button on jobs due to a lack of skilled tradespeople. 12% had cancelled work due to a lack of skilled tradespeople and 45% were particularly struggling to hire bricklayers.
A key problem is that the industry has an ageing workforce and young Brits are shying away from entering traditional trades. Some suggest that young people ‘leave’ our industry as young as 12 years old! Sounds weird but think about it. Pre-schoolers and primary schoolkids love the idea of building things (influenced perhaps by ‘Bob the Builder’ and games like Minecraft). But, something changes as they reach their teenage years and suddenly construction is seen as ‘dirty work’ or something for ‘those who don’t go to college’.
So, in today’s blog, we’re going to try to dispel some of those negative ideas and showcase what it really means to be a bricklayer.
It’s no secret that the construction industry has been facing skills shortages for a considerable length of time. With unemployment rising and further job losses on the horizon (the impact of Covid-19) coupled with what some are calling the ‘Brexodus’ effect when it comes to using (or rather losing) EU labour, the obvious solutions are…