CLOCK TICKING TOWARDS ENTRY DEADLINE FOR NEXT STEPS

There’s just over a fortnight left for people to secure their chance of winning a construction apprenticeship.

The clock is ticking towards the June 19th deadline for entries to this year’s Next Steps – the annual competition where anyone living in Carmarthenshire, aged 16+, has the chance of securing an apprenticeship with local building firms Lloyd & Gravell Ltd and TRJ Ltd.

It is open to men and women, there is no upper age limit, and it does not matter what previous experience entrants have.

Next Steps is run by Constructing Carmarthenshire Together – a partnership of Carmarthenshire County Council, Coleg Sir Gâr, and Carmarthenshire Construction Training Association 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.

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.

• Visit www.nextstepscarmarthenshire.co.uk for further information and to download an application form. Don’t forget – the deadline is Friday, June 19, 2015.