A coffee with... Jane Milligan for National Apprenticeship Week
Article posted on: 10 February 2023
Jane Milligan is Clancy Consulting’s HR Director. A huge advocate of kickstarting careers for the next generation of engineers, Jane instigated the business’s apprenticeship programme just over 10 years ago.
Clancy currently employs five apprentices, all at various stages of their apprenticeship journey. We’re now on a recruitment drive to find a further three across our Birmingham, Manchester and Norwich offices.
Jane took an active role with the Technical Apprenticeship Consortium (TAC) back in 2012 and became involved with the regional meetings for several years. She continues to chair both the North West and North East regional meetings.
Reflecting back to when our first apprentices joined us Jane comments, “Poppy Burgess and Robyn Clancy joined us 10 years ago and were both a complete breath of fresh air. They were our first apprentices, so a whole new world to us as a business too.”
“Both were so eager to learn, they changed the dynamic in the teams around them. Poppy was 16 years old when she started, and now she is a degree-qualified Structural Engineer EngTech MICE, TIStructE. Robyn is an MEng degree-qualified Electrical Engineer. It’s honestly been a pleasure to watch them both flourish and develop into their roles, now offering mentoring roles themselves to younger members of the team.”
The theme for National Apprenticeship Week 2023 is ‘Skills for Life”; reflecting on how apprenticeships can help individuals develop the skills and knowledge required for a rewarding career, and businesses to develop a talented workforce that is equipped with future-ready skills. We asked Jane what she considered to be the benefits of employing apprentices.
“Apprentices have brought so much to our business. Having a vast amount to learn, they in turn reverse mentor with ideas around the latest technology and straightforward methods of task delivery. They also nurture our relationship-building skills, improve our sustainability knowledge, and have an enthusiasm that is infectious.”
“It takes commitment and resilience to manage a degree along with working, but the benefits are outweighed when you put into immediate practice what you have learnt and get paid for doing so.”
If you want to learn more about an apprenticeship with Clancy Consulting, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our HR team to find out more.