Education, education, education
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Northern Ireland Volvo dealer Dennison Commercials is helping to provide youngsters with career opportunities and jobs Woras: ion Urinal/images: uraig cueston Adopt a Skill is a schools mentoring programme created two years ago by the Dennison Commercials management team, working with Northern Ireland's Business in the Community and Ballyclare High School.
The programme is just one element in Dennison's commitment to social responsibility and playing its part in the life of the local community, according to Dennison Commercials finance director Michael Petticrew. It's a wide-ranging programme that, apart from providing the possibility of employment at the company to a small but significant number of young people, also includes the dealer's staff supporting charitable concerns and good works. The latter is epitomised by their support for the Action Cancer Service 'Big Bus' (a Volvo FH artic kitted out with the latest high-tech mobile screening equipment) and a truck-pull for three-year-old Oscar Knox, a child with the rare condition neuroblastoma.
In November, Dennison's staff pulled a new Volvo FH tractor unit and trailer through the centre of Belfast, raising more than £5,000 for the charity set up to pay for Oscar's medical treatment. At the heart of what Petticrew describes as Dennison's corporate and social responsibility programme is the need for the business to attract and develop the right people.
Two things make that task harder. The first is the lack of interest, despite advances in workshop diagnostics and reductions in the average age of trucks maintained by dealers, among young people in working in a typical truck workshop or engineering environment. The second is the high dependence on the public sector for employment in Northern Ireland and the fact that, according to figures published in November by the Department of Trade and Enterprise, there is a significant pay gap in favour of those employed by the state. Despite its long history of heavy engineering, public sector jobs now account for about a third of all forms of employment.
However, cuts to public sector jobs planned between now and 2017 mean 26,000 jobs will go, according to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU). Companies such as Dennison Commercials are working hard to build business confidence and ensure their survival by having a vision and planning how they will respond to the changes in the economy and keep serving their loyal customers for years to come.
What is business?
The focus of the Adopt a Skill programme is Ballyclare High School — a co-educational grammar school with about 1,200 pupils. As part of the programme, the dealer's management team visit the school and give talks and answer questions, such as 'what is business?' They also help pupils with their job interviewing skills. "It's primarily about helping them understand the breadth of career choices available to them at the dealership," says Petticrew.
There is no doubt that Dennison Commercials is a major employer in Ballyclare. Uniquely among truck dealers in Northern Ireland, the business employs about 130 people in the region and has a network of four depots, plus a vehicle maintenance unit at the Wrightbus site at Ballymena.
In meetings with Ballyclare High School pupils, the firm tries to get across the diversity of jobs that can be found within it: from ICT and systems, to accountancy, sales and workshop technicians. These talks are aimed at helping the youngsters understand that businesses, including truck dealerships, require a range of skills and competencies to help them keep up with and pre-empt customers' needs.
With the advent of tuition fees, it is in Dennison Commercials' favour that, while many of the students will go to university, a significant number will opt to go straight into paid employment on leaving school.
The school also organises a dealership visit for the 17to 18-year-old A-level business studies students. CM joined them to find out how Dennison Commercials managers sell the company as an (undoubtedly) attractive place for young people to work. The 21-strong party was shown around the dealer's site on Hillhead Road, Ballyclare, by Petticrew, training manager Alan Compton and marketing manager Laura Dougan.
MD John Jenkins and sales director Rob Ireland are heavily involved in the programme Ballyclare High School head of business studies Philip L,eckey kept things moving and facilitated discussion between the students and the Dennison Commercials team.
The tour was as comprehensive as any given to a potential customer. The ride in a Volvo FH was popular and the team did a great job of promoting the dealer as a good place to make a career. • BRINGING YOUNG PEOPLE INTO THE INDUSTRY Altruistic as their motives undoubtedly are, there are pragmatic reasons behind Dennison Commercials' keenness to develop and extend the Adopt a Skill programme. Finding young people who want to join the truck industry is becoming increasingly difficult — made even more challenging by the small population of the region.
Of the 21 students we spoke to after their visit to the Ballyclare premises, only one was interested in a career that could, possibly, involve trucks and transport. When asked what career they were looking to pursue, their choices ranged from animal wrangling for the film industry to law, accountancy, theology and fashion design. Landscaping was the choice of one student, whose father was in that line of business.
Petticrew asked the students: "Where do you see yourself in 10 years' time?" Most said in management. He tried to convince them of the importance of achieving their qualifications in maths and English.
On the plus side, CM spoke to two people who have joined the dealer as a result of the Adopt a Skill programme. Workshop technicians Robbie King and Craig Mackay both applied for jobs and are now on a three-year training programme supported by the dealer.
"We're trying to change perceptions," says Petticrew. "We're helping young people to think and prepare for the outside world. Not all of them will go to university, and we encourage them to look at the employment and career possibilities here and to see how it all fits together. Dennison has a confident, young management team and Volvo's new FH is a technological game changer. Dennison Commercials has a history of delivering on customer service and we need the right people. The Adopt a Skill programme is proving to be one way we can link to the local community and help young people in the region."