Autotech Academy supports intern placements

Autotech Academy has recently supported a Volkswagen Van dealership in recruiting three interns.

It liaised with Sandwell College and Walsall College after being contacted by the Volkswagen Van Centre in Birmingham and within three days had arranged interviews for the Volkswagen Van Centre’s head of business, Wayne Ollerenshaw, with recently qualified automotive students.

All three were offered positions and began their six-month internships within two weeks.

Ollerenshaw said: “I was extremely impressed with how well equipped the interns were, and their eagerness to start work.

“We have taken on apprentices in the past and it continues to play a part of our strategy, but as apprentices join us fresh from school, they don’t hold the college-learned theory so, understandably, it takes a lot longer for them to gain the necessary knowledge and skills required to carry out repair or servicing work.

“The interns from Autotech Academy all have the most up-to-date knowledge and are keen to put this into practice. While we have, of course, assigned a mentor for each of them to shadow, I am confident that in just six to eight weeks they will be working independently which will support demand for our services.”

Dave Walker, national careers manager for Autotech Academy, said: “It is vital that the automotive skills learned within colleges are retained by the industry.”