A Dundee energy services firm more than doubled its apprentice intake after receiving 270 applications for just four trainee posts.
Port of Dundee-based Rigmar Fabrications said it had been inundated with applications from young people looking to gain on-the-job experience of working in the energy sector.
The firm has invested almost £1 million in significantly expanding the size of its operation since acquiring Dundee docks-based Riverside Engineering last year.
Rigmar now has more than 142,000sq ft of fabrication and office space at Prince Charles Wharf and has significantly ramped up its operations after securing a multi-million-pound contract from energy giant Transocean to do maintenance and repair work on the Galaxy II platform.
The company last month said it was adding 30 new jobs at its Dundee facility, and yesterday revealed the huge demand it had experienced for its latest apprenticeship placements.
The overwhelming flood of applications saw Rigmar review its initial recruitment target of four apprentices and increase that to a total of nine.
Each of the successful candidates had to go through a rigorous selection process to secure a place with the company.
“I qualified with two codings from the Dundee College, having studied fabrication and welding,” apprentice welder Jade Anderson said.
“I had seen the job advertised in the local paper and was delighted to be offered the job. A Modern Apprenticeship for me really offers the best of both worlds. Working in the workshop is so different from college, and I can’t wait to work full-time.”
Subject to previous experience, the apprenticeships last between two and five years and combine on-the-job training at Rigmar with a day-release education programme at Dundee College.
Rigmar said it had been “overwhelmed” by the response to its trainee placements and intended to continue its involvement with the Modern Apprentice programme in the years ahead.
“The industry needs apprentices,” Rigmar Fabrications managing director Gary Mitchelson said.
He said the lack of investment in training in recent years has resulted in an ever more apparent skills gap.
“We are dealing with a shrinking labour pool: with some of the best in the industry reaching retirement age with no sight of a replacement.
“I have always been fully supportive of the Modern Apprenticeship programmes, and see these initiatives as having a key role in safeguarding the future of our industry and the local economy.”