[00:00:00] Piers Collins: Hello, everyone. My name is Piers and I am one of the founders here at hundo, and I'm delighted to be hosting one of these sessions at the, Automotive CareerCon. I'm very happy to welcome Darren Wilson from Skillnet, to talk for a few moments today about his role in the industry. so Darren, very quickly, just introduce yourself and what do you do?

[00:00:33] Darren Wilson: Hello, I'm Darren, as Piers said, I'm the Light Vehicle Director for Skillnet. So, my role pretty much is, to coordinate apprenticeships, with various manufacturers that we support, with apprenticeships.  

[00:00:47] Piers Collins: Wonderful. Well, we're delighted to have you. thank you for sparing us the time. and obviously, I'm sure, you've done plenty of things in your life.

So I wanted to get a feel for your journey so far, as it's always interesting to hear how people got into the industry. and you know, and how they found that role there.  

[00:01:04] Darren Wilson: Okay. Primarily, I, I, I'm new to the industry. I've been, I've been with Skillnet for three years. I've been in, apprenticeships for the past 14, 15 years.

and I've worked across several industries, not only in the light vehicle industry. Previous to that, I worked, in car sales and previous to that I was in the, in the military. So, I've been in the industry for a short period of time, but, I just like to reassure everybody it's, it's an inspirational industry.

It's a fantastic industry to be in with fantastic prospects, that I see, a rewarding career with lots of different pathways, technical and non technical.  

[00:01:46] Piers Collins: Fantastic. And it's wonderful to hear, you know, I think it's very inspiring always to see, you know, there's not one route to get into any industry.

And at hundo here, we're all about looking at people's individual skills and how they can be applied across lots of different things. So you're a, I guess, a walking example of that there, and which is, which is fantastic, fantastic, Darren. Well, I guess, given you've done a fair period in the apprenticeship space and then obviously most recently in, in automotive, tell me a little bit about the key routes to getting into an automotive apprenticeship, and I guess what are the best.

way a young person or anybody can can access those kind of roles.  

[00:02:20] Darren Wilson: Yes. Well, I think, I think the first and most important thing is to have an interest in joining the industry, have an interest in, in vehicles or working within the industry, maybe in a business support role. if you wanted to become an apprentice, the, the easiest way to do that is to go through National Apprenticeship Service or contact a provider like Skillnet, or even just go and see, you know, a local dealer, local manufacturer, That you might have and express your wishes to become an apprentice or to work in the industry.

If you're still at school or college, you know, see if the school or college could get you some work experience locally or, or nationally, if that was the case, in the industry. There's lots of ways to get into the light vehicle, industry. starting at school, helping yourself, and like I said, going online and look at the National Apprenticeship Service, see what's on offer.

[00:03:13] Piers Collins: Fantastic. Thanks, Darren. And I guess, You know, apprenticeships are fantastic, and it's a fantastic, different route into an industry. I know they've been around for some time, but I feel like certainly with our audience getting more popular and and seen as a route that, you know, maybe instead of, university.

Just so everybody can understand, how does Skillnet work with the big car brands? And then, you know, how does the apprenticeship fit in with their, them and their strategies?  

[00:03:41] Darren Wilson: Well, we work, very, very close with the manufacturers that we support. We use the National Apprenticeship Service, people applying for apprentices that are online.

We use those, those, applications, offer them an opportunity, to work with the manufacturers we work with. we. Provide a service to the manufacturers by, locating the apprentice, shortlisting an apprentice, preparing the apprentice for an interview because everybody has to be interviewed for an apprenticeship because there's a job, as well as training, there's a job.

So there's an interview, with, with the, with the employer. we ensure that the manufacturer program that we're working with is tailored to what they need so that when the apprentice becomes a fully fledged technician, he's their technician of choice. So he has all the, or she has all the requisite qualifications that that manufacturer requires.

[00:04:41] Piers Collins: Fantastic. And I guess, you know, having been in the space and seeing different people going and applying for those jobs, I'm sure they're in high demand. first, it'd be great to get a, you know, if you can tell us a little taste of kind of, That Skillnet work work for. and then, you know, just thinking about the people who'll be watching these, these videos, what are the key skills?

What are your hacks, you know, what knowledge and behaviors do you think if you were putting together, you know, together the perfect apprentice application, you know, what would you say would be top of the list? Yeah.  

[00:05:11] Darren Wilson: Well we, we offer apprenticeships with, with Ford motor company Kia. DAF heavy vehicle and MAN heavy vehicle.

So these are four massive, manufacturing brands out there in the industry, and great ways, into a great career. I would say people wanting, to, to, to embark on an apprentice need to be, need to have resilience. it, the journeys can often be challenging. It's different to being at school.

Like I said earlier, you're, you're at work whilst you're learning. timekeeping is another. A skill that people should should possess and be supported with problem solving in the any automotive industry is quite a major component of the work, but I suppose working tremendously as part of a team or being a team member is also vitally important.

All of the skills that most of us anywhere already possess.  

[00:06:13] Piers Collins: Fantastic. Because you know, in my simple mind, you think that if you're going to go and work in automotive, you probably need to have a tool set, but obviously that's completely the wrong way to look at it. And actually what you've just said there are skills that anybody can show.

and more importantly, you can show them in lots of different ways. you can do things through, I guess, your school, college or education, even your early career and transition those things. into this industry. so that's really, really rewarding to hear. And I think, you know, too long have we probably siloed our thinking in terms of, you know, if I like X and Y have to do this industry, actually, always we say to our users and our members is that life is long, you do a lot in your life.

And actually, one of the core skills that you're collecting and what you've articulated there shows that you can transfer those core skills to this.  

[00:07:01] Darren Wilson: I guess,  

[00:07:02] Piers Collins: sorry, there's  

[00:07:03] Darren Wilson: no bar to anybody joining the industry. You know, male, female, it doesn't matter. I would, I would always advocate that if you are still at school or college that, you know, GCSEs is the foundation of any learning and that I would encourage everybody to, you know, to achieve their GCSEs, GCSEs in maths and English, and, and subjects that they're currently studying.

Because all of those are gateway to something bigger and better. And there's lots of different routes, lots of advanced routes in the automotive industry that, you know, a good, foundation education, would help you, progress with  

[00:07:39] Piers Collins: wonderful. I think, you know, that's covered, you know, how we get into the industry.

I guess, you know, the world is a fast changing place these days. And, you know, certainly we see a lots of things going on in the automotive industry every day in the news. be great to get your take on, I guess, how is the industry evolving? What are the key adaptations that those industry, the industry is having to make?

And then how's that trickling down to the skills they're now looking for in their current and future workforce?  

[00:08:08] Darren Wilson: Well, I think I think everybody understands and has heard about EV electric vehicles. that's obviously huge. Digitization is something else that is is huge in the industry at the minute.

Increased automation. you probably know about driverless cars or almost driverless cars or enhancements in vehicles that help, you know, help us drive and and act more safely when we're in a vehicle. advanced driver systems, technology. is the, the equipment in a car that helps you drive safely.

Okay. and increases safety on the roads. some of that information, people might be familiar with in, you know, cruise control, collision avoidance, speed limiters, lane departure. There's, there's a lot more automation and, and technology in, in a vehicle nowadays that enables everybody to be on the road and drive as safely as possible.

Just as I said earlier, you know, individuals have to be resilient because. You know, to, to, to work in the, in the industry, you have to work online or study online, study, you know, in person, work at work with a mentor. The, the industry itself has also been very, or is very resilient, you know, with the changes in legislation, you know, the, they call the internal combustion engine and they refer to it as ice and by about 20, 2036, you know, The projection is that the internal combustion engine, the car as we know it, or the vehicle as we know it, will be surpassed by by electric vehicles, you know, there'll be more electric vehicles running on a battery than there is a vehicle running on diesel or petrol as it is now.

[00:09:51] Piers Collins: Brilliant. I mean, absolutely, Darren, I think, you know, something that we should all appreciate and certainly the next generation of the workforce has the sort of climate problem to solve. And obviously. The automotive industry is on the leading edge of providing that solution. So absolutely, I'd say, you know, would I be fair in saying that some of these apprenticeships are going to be on sort of the most cutting edge in terms of the kind of exposure they offer?

[00:10:15] Darren Wilson: Absolutely. Yes. I mean, if you go into any, any dealer now, you know, if people have got the idea of it being, you know, a, An oil infested location. They, they, they'll be massively mistaken. The, the work places currently are very clean, very sterile, great places to work, where people enjoy working on, on current vehicles and obviously are going through a transition now where, you know, modern.

Or greater technologies taken over. And with that, so does the training and development of each individual, you know, electrics, like I said earlier, automation, you know, sustainable, ways of working, sustainable, ways of driving. It's, it's all super important now. and like I said, I suppose that the biggest plus to all of this is the fact that, you know, driving is going to be safer, people are going to be safer on the roads, and people will have a greater choice, of vehicle.

[00:11:14] Piers Collins: Brilliant. Yeah, as I say, you know, something we see actually in the news every single day and sometimes perhaps don't connect the fact there's huge opportunities there for certain types of roles. Fantastic. Look, Darren, we're running out of time, so I'm conscious I don't want to take up too much more. I really appreciate everything you've told us today and the insight you've been able to give.

Just before you go, I'd love to sort of reiterate, you know, if someone watching this is keen to sort of break into the industry, how can they get in touch with you and Skillnet and see if there's anything available for them? Absolutely.  

[00:11:43] Darren Wilson: Okay, if they, if they go onto the, onto the internet, look for Skillnet.

limited, then they will be able to contact my, the business I work for, explain what they want to do, or where they want to potentially work. We can match a vacancy, in the area to a job that they may be able to fulfill. and we'll take it from there. We'll just help them every step of the way, open to, and including becoming a skilled technician or a skilled, non tech, business individual, in any one of the dealers we work with.

[00:12:19] Piers Collins: Wonderful, Dan. Once again, thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks for your time and thanks for such wonderful insight. Thank you.