Affinity Water is recruiting 10 new apprentices to study and apply the latest advances in leakage technology to help it attract a broader range of innovative skillsets into the industry in the coming months.
The utility has had over 2,000 views of its adverts placed on social media too and shortlisted 37 people from across Affinity Water ‘s three regions for its Leakage Control Technician role.
The Apprentices will achieve a CABWI accredited Level 3 Water Process Technician qualification over 15 months with the training provider Watertrain. They will each spend 4 days in the classroom every month and the rest of the time will be on site with industry experts who will also be their mentors.
They will be using the latest mapping and telemetry software to enhance District Meter Area surveys, and to detect leakage and unaccounted-for water in Affinity Water’s networks.
The starting salary will be £18000 a year which increases over time. They will also be provided with a work van to assist with getting to and from work and to help them get to the classroom sessions.
Watertrain will also be training another 10 leakage technicians on the same apprenticeship scheme recently recruited from within the wider industry who will embark on the same qualification.
Tom Aspinall, head of leakage for Affinity Water said:
“Recruiting specialised and experienced leakage technicians is a challenge due to the niche skillset required.
Bringing on young apprentices in this way enables us to nurture ‘grass roots talent’ and provide us with a sustainable talent pool for the future as we can be sure that when our experienced Technicians retire the young students will have had time to benefit from their experience. We’ll be taking on 10 new apprentices and hope to scale this up with an additional five new apprentices every year.
“Leakage technicians are becoming ever more data and analysis driven. The technical requirements of our Technicians will be suitable to a generation that have grown up with IT and Technology. “
Wayne Novelli, Affinity Water’s Business Lead on Active Leakage Control commented:
“It is essential to give school leavers an opportunity to build a career and a sound future in the water sector and to increase the profile of such exciting new careers amongst a new generation of recruits.
“It is also essential to get people interested in our roles rather than depend on people just falling into the industry later on in life through chance rather than by design. The industry is evolving with ever increasing demands on targets and levels of service so bringing up a generation of new recruits and moulding them to our ways of working and embedding our values and culture is key to our success.
“Our new apprentices will be working with us to help us to deliver on our commitments to managing precious water resources well. We are pleased to have chosen and to be working with the training provider Watertrain on this new apprenticeship scheme.”
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