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Daily Record
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Record
Construction recruitment expert urges youngsters to start building skills and experience early
Construction recruitment expert urges youngsters to start building skills and experience early But Ross Hammell, of Moodiesburn, says they shouldn't worry if their career path takes a few unexpected turns along the way. Ross Hammell is corporate and social responsibility manager at McTaggart Group One of Scotland's top construction recruitment experts has urged youngsters to start building their skills and experience early. But Ross Hammell, of Moodiesburn, says they shouldn't worry if their career path takes a few unexpected turns along the way. The 44-year-old is corporate and social responsibility manager at McTaggart Group, one of the country's leading housebuilders. Download the Lanarkshire Live app today The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now. Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7. The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you. Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android As part of his role, he works closely with colleges across the country - including his old college, now Glasgow Kelvin - to help identify and support the next generation of talent coming into the construction industry. Speaking following the third National Opportunity Day, an initiative led by Glasgow Kelvin College to celebrate the many routes into work and further study, Ross said there's never been a better time for youths to explore their options. Glasgow Kelvin College will hold its open day this Thursday, August 14, where potential students will be able to hear first hand about the paths available to them. Ross said: "It's not just about what you learn in a classroom, it's about how you use that knowledge to build your own path. "We see it time and again, the young people who've thought about their future, taken on extra experience, or found ways to stand out - they're the ones who get noticed. "It's about attitude as much as ability." Youngsters take part in Summer School run by project creating new Monklands Hospital READ MORE: Ross' own journey took unexpected twists along the way. He left school at 17 and began his career as an apprentice plasterer, training at Springburn College - now Glasgow Kelvin. Since then, he has worked in community development, social housing, and skills programmes before moving into construction and community benefit roles. He now supports hundreds of students annually across McTaggart's sites, and says he's a strong believer in colleges as engines of opportunity. Ross added: "College was where it all started for me. I've been back three times in different roles - as a student, a partner, and an employer. "It's absolutely vital that the private sector works hand-in-hand with colleges to develop talent. "We're now shaping vocational courses directly, adapting programmes to meet our needs and creating tailored pathways that set young people up for real jobs. "That kind of collaboration is only becoming more important." One of those success stories is Liam Cox, 20, from North Lanarkshire, who left school at 16 to start a construction apprenticeship - but quickly realised it wasn't quite right for him. He enrolled full-time in an HNC in cvil engineering at Glasgow Kelvin College, then discovered a Graduate Apprenticeship in quantity surveying with McTaggart Group and Glasgow Caledonian University. Liam Cox left school at 16 to start a construction apprenticeship - but quickly realised it wasn't quite right for him He beat 75 other applicants to land the place and now works four days a week on live multi-million pound projects, and spends one day at university working on academic qualifications. Liam said: "I thought I knew what I wanted, but being on the tools just wasn't for me. "I still wanted to work in construction, so I started looking at other ways in. North Lanarkshire school pupils celebrate their SQA exam results READ MORE: "I saw the job advertised and just went for it. Now I'm getting experience and a degree at the same time. "It's tough - juggling both - but I've learned more than I ever expected. "My advice to any young person is don't rush into something just because you feel you have to. If it doesn't work out, that's not the end of the road. You can always change direction." Ross believes it's this kind of initiative and adaptability that sets candidates apart. He said: "When you're reviewing hundreds of applications, you can spot those who've really thought about their route. "Liam had the grades, the experience, and the attitude. He knew where he wanted to go - and had already taken the steps to get there." With the construction industry facing a major skills shortage - including in areas like renewable energy and quantity surveying - Ross believes colleges are essential to building the workforce of the future. He added: "We're already seeing change. Graduate Apprenticeships used to be rare - now we have four running, and growing. "Colleges like Kelvin are tapping into school-leavers earlier than ever. Some pupils are doing HNCs before they've even sat their Highers. "That pipeline is vital. Not everyone is the 'finished product' at 18. "Sometimes we need to help shape that. It's about giving people the tools - then backing them to succeed." Robin Ashton, vice principal of curriculum and quality at Glasgow Kelvin College, has outlined practical tips to help you make the most of your opportunities. He said: "Colleges are here to help every learner find their path. Exam results are important, but they're just one moment. "What matters is using that moment to explore the possibilities and take the next step." McTaggart Group currently employs 172 staff, with its projects supporting over 1700 jobs across Scotland - many of them in affordable housing developments. Article continues below For more information about National Opportunity Day, or to explore your next steps in construction or college, visit *Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here. And did you know Lanarkshire Live had its own app? Download yours for free here.
The Herald Scotland
26-04-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Glasgow college to deliver net zero skills and tackle poverty
'In Glasgow,' says Joanna Campbell, 'we've got some of the highest levels of unemployment in Scotland and we have a need to get people out of poverty. Plus we've got the grand challenges of our regional economy – productivity, inclusive growth, climate change.' 'If,' she says, 'you think about the technology and the industries that are going to support Scotland's drive to becoming net zero, then actually right now the college has a role to play in helping people develop those skills.' Campbell, who stepped into the role following the retirement of Derek Smeall, has already pioneered environmental leadership in education in her previous role as principal at Dumfries and Galloway College, where she led the institution to three UK Green Gown Awards for exceptional sustainability initiatives during her six-year tenure. Her focus now is on aligning education with Glasgow's economic and environmental ambitions. Net zero will be a core priority for Glasgow Kelvin, as is tackling child poverty. With campuses serving some of the most economically challenged communities in Scotland – in areas such as Springburn and Easterhouse – Campbell sees the college as having a central role in 'improving life chances'. It is about getting, as she describes 'people out of impoverished situations to become highly productive members of the workforce' and also tackling the climate emergency. It also aims to deliver education that 'develops the skills that we're going to need for the future to support the jobs and roles that we're going to have in our society' 40% of college education in Scotland is delivered in Glasgow, and 20 % of that is delivered by Glasgow Kelvin College. Glasgow Kelvin College was formed from the merger of three colleges in 2013, and named after the scientist Lord Kelvin to indicate its intent to promote engineering and scientific education programmes. The college has already itself won a Green Gown award for a pioneering sustainable fashion initiative and is home to a Green Academy – a dedicated training facility focused on low-carbon heating systems such as air-source heat pumps. Principal Joanna Campbell and students at Glasgow Kelvin College (Image: Glasgow Kelvin College) Glasgow Kelvin, Campbell says, can provide 'opportunity for those people who are furthest away from the labour market by offering them not just the courses that you would expect a college to put on, like HNDs or national qualifications but actually taster programmes, bite-sized learning and we can do that in the community as well as doing it in our three campuses as well.'. But delivering this is going to be difficult in a cash-strapped sector. 'One of the things,' she says, 'I want to get across is that we work in a sector where we've had flat cash and we have already reduced our student activity by 8% because of those funding challenges and we've reduced our workforce by about 12% to meet the challenges of funding.' Funding is particularly important, in terms of poverty and inequality, since, Campbell says, the college has 'proportionately higher than any other college in supporting the most deprived communities in Scotland'. 38% of its enrolments are from areas in the most deprived 10% in Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). Principal Joanna Campbell and students at Glasgow Kelvin College (Image: Glasgow Kelvin College) 'Any reduction in our funding," she says, "has a real impact on our ability to be able to support that. And when you think about the fact that we are working with 45 community learning and development partners and as well as what we're doing in our three campuses we're actually operating across 32 locations in the community and delivering training within those locations to about 4000 learners. "That's significant. We need the system to recognise the scale of impact colleges make – particularly when we have seen a 17% drop in funding since 2021/22.' Colleges, however, she observes, are used to adapting and agile as organisations. 'We had the last set of reforms in 2010 where we went from 43 colleges to 24 and became regional colleges and had regional boards we managed to navigate our way through that. I'm not saying it was easy but we did it. But I think the thing that we're not seeing at the moment is we're not seeing a sense of urgency to address this. We talk about reform but we've yet to see that materialise.' The kind of changes needed to deliver net zero are also not, she pointed out, going to be delivered just by looking at curriculum alone. Read more: Minister hails 'world-class' action on sustainability at city college Answers to the 'not enough' supply issues of offshore wind? Scotland needs 1000s of heat pump fitters. Where's the training? 'You have to embed that,' she says, 'into the organisational DNA, the culture of the organisation. That's one of the things I managed to do in my previous role. It wasn't just about what can we do to develop the skills to tackle climate change, but actually how can we embed it into our practices because we need to role model that, not just teach.' Campbell's background is in digital, as a former computing lecturer. 'It's not in climate at all. I'm not a scientist. I'm not an engineer. I'm none of those. But the reason it came about is because when I first went to work in Dumfries & Galloway, we had just secured a significant amount, £7 million, of funding from what was the precursor to South of Scotland Enterprise agency, to develop a green energy centre.' In partnership with Borders college, and with additional funding from the Green Energy Fund, the college set up not just the centre, but a whole suite of programmes. 'If I'm honest some of the work I've left behind there was leading the college sector and they were very much seen as being the trailblazer for some of the things we see now around green energy, training, offshore wind, onshore wind, just starting to touch on hydrogen production and the curriculum that goes to support that. I think they were ahead of their time.' There is, Campbell says, one golden thread through her work in both colleges. 'It's the workforce, it's all employers whether you're in Dumfries & Galloway, Glasgow, Edinburgh, right now what employers are feeding back is that the challenges that they have now are workforce and skills deficits. Any college in Scotland is very much deeply rooted in the community that it serves, and also our heritage is providing skills for the economies that are in and around us – and particularly in Scotland where we have that place-based approach that the government has very much focussed on.' Campbell says she was drawn to Glasgow Kelvin because of its clear sense of mission and values, describing it as an institution rooted in its communities and committed to transforming lives through education. 'This college has a clear mission – to serve some of the most deprived communities in Scotland, and to do so in a way that is bold, inclusive and future-facing. It's a purpose I feel deeply connected to. I can see clear alignment between that mission and the transformational work already being done.'
