BUILDING A CAREER IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Do you think you’re too old for an apprenticeship? Do you think that because you’re female you’ll never make it in the construction industry?

Well, think again.

Next Steps 2015 is here, and this is a chance for anyone aged 16 and over to find their feet in the construction industry regardless of age, gender or social background.

The annual competition is run by Constructing Carmarthenshire Together – a partnership of Carmarthenshire County Council, Coleg Sir Gâr, and Carmarthenshire Construction Training Association Ltd – in association with local construction firms Lloyd & Gravell Ltd and TRJ Ltd.

Now in its fifth year, the competition has already changed the lives of countless local people – including people who have gone on to set up their own business and win national skills competitions, as well as children and adults with severe disabilities who have benefitted from community projects built by the Next Steps teams.

Entries for this year’s competition are now open, and there’s a particular call for women who are under-represented in the construction industry.

Up to 10 candidates will be shortlisted after interview, and each candidate will spend a week at Coleg Sir Gâr’s Ammanford campus to undertake basic health and safety training allowing them to work on a building site. Numbers will then be whittled down to at least eight, with a further six weeks of on-site work experience, where they will mentored by qualified tradesmen on a community benefit project to learn skills including carpentry, bricklaying, plastering and ground works.

At the end, at least two people will win a paid construction apprenticeship with Lloyd and Gravell Ltd and TRJ Ltd. The project will run from mid-July to the end of August. Winners start their apprenticeships in September.

• Download an application form – the deadline for entries is Friday, June 19.