A duct and sheet metal manufacturer, Impact Ducting Sales, has been named one of the top 100 apprenticeship employers in the UK for 2014.

Impact Ducting Sales, of Oakland Road, Leicester, was dubbed one of the top apprenticeship employers last week.

This comes after the firm won the Newcomer SME of the year award for the East Midlands at the Regional Apprenticeship awards 2014.

Darren Robinson, managing director of Impact, said: “We’re really pleased to have been named as one of the country’s top 100 companies for apprenticeships.

“To be listed alongside companies such as ITV, IBM and HSBC is fantastic, especially for a company our size.

“We put an awful lot of time into the apprenticeship scheme, as well as recruiting and training young people in general.

“It’s great to be recognised for the hard work that we and Leicester College put in.”

The firm employs 42 people at its manufacturing site in Leicester, and has been running the current apprenticeship scheme with Leicester College for three years.

The firm previously ran an apprenticeship scheme in the 1980s, and Darren was part of the last training course before it finished in the early 1990s.

He said: “I started working here in 1988 and did a four-year apprenticeship.

“As I rose through the ranks in this business, I looked at trying to get apprenticeships put back in place again.

“We decided to bring back the apprenticeship scheme because recruitment in the duct work industry was so difficult.

“I had spoken to other business owners and leaders across various industries, especially engineering, and they said their biggest problem was recruitment.

“I really do bang the drum for apprenticeships.”

The firm currently has eight apprentices working at the firm who are aged between 16 to 22.

Elliot Kejzerko, 19, from Anstey, works at the firm as a CAD/CAM programme software operator.

Elliot said: “When I was looking for apprenticeships, I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for.

“When I rang up Leicester College, they told me that I was suited for engineering, and, by chance, my mum knew that the firm was recruiting for an apprentice.

“When I read the advert, the job seemed like something I would enjoy because it is still engineering, even though I worked with software.

“I’m not that hands on, but I do enjoy the working out aspect of engineering. I would like to stay here and move up the chain.”

In the past 12 months, the firm’s turnover has increased by about 20 per cent from £2.2 million to £2.75 million, which Darren said was down to a combination of the work from the apprentices and the firm’s £250,000 investment in new machinery.

Darren said: “From a business point of view, we need them, they’re essential and I believe they’re essential for every company.

“People need to look at apprenticeships as a viable alternative to university.”

Source: Leicester Mercury http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Apprentices-hired/story-24712608-detail/story.html.