How Green Skills Can Increase Your Employability

We spoke recently with one of our long-term learners, Jay Scott, who has taken a good number of courses with us over the years. His son, Josh, won our Lifetime of Training prize last year and having completed his MLP, he’s keen to use the second part of his award to train in renewables.

Jay has been in the BSE sector for a long time now. He has been a skilled tradesman for most of his career and can turn his hand to most things. Jay’s seen trends and industry changes come and go and with two sons working alongside him in the skilled trades, he has their future in mind. He currently works for Belfor, a fire and flood restoration company as Senior Technical Manager, where one of his responsibilities is bringing on the next generation – or the ‘young pups’ as he calls them.

“We need to upskill the young ones for a green energy future. Although they were the foundation for many engineers of my age, fossil fuels are on the way out and we’d not be doing those entering the trades any favours if we didn’t embrace what’s coming at us. I’m responsible for training our youngest members of staff and I’m given a pretty free rein with the budget. A lot of our work is remedial stuff, repairing existing systems that are broken, but there’s also the opportunity to move into modern technologies and I’m passionate about that.”

Jay is right, it’s no time to be sitting back on your heels. Green skills can increase your employability. 

The armies of trained installers we will need over the next decades to fit the numbers of heat pumps required is significant. The MCS states that last year 200,000 heat pumps were installed across the UK, a 25% increase on the previous year. But the Government’s target for annual installations by 2028 is a staggering 600,000. There’s clearly a shortfall as demand grows.

It’s a similar story with EVs. We can all see the increase in electric cars and hybrid vehicles on the roads we drive every day. The numbers of EV charging point installers we need to provide a sustainable network of charging points across the UK is staggering. Research published in Fleet News states that around 60,000 extra EV charge points need to be installed to meet the phase out of cars powered by the internal combustion engine by 2035. 

The extra training you need to up-skill in these areas doesn’t take too long and those looking to train in Heat Pump installation can access Government funding to subsidise the cost. It’s clear that demand for installers with specialist knowledge is on the rise, so anything invested to future-proof your career is surely money well spent in the long run. Besides, embracing new technologies is exciting and can give new and older learners alike a real boost. Green skills can increase your employability and it’s satisfying to feel you’re playing your part in Britain’s sustainable future. 

For more information on our range of renewables qualifications which also included training in EESS installation, the installation and maintenance of Solar PV and various courses on Energy Efficiency, please click here. If you’d like to discuss your future with us, just give us a call. We’re keen to hear from you.