Engineering is one of the UK's broadest and most varied sectors covering everything from automotive manufacturing and food production to climate research and offshore energy.
It's also one of its most important, with demand for skilled engineers growing year on year at a time when the pipeline of new talent coming through is under real pressure.
The challenge is often about awareness. For many young people, engineering remains an abstract concept, something they study in theory but struggle to picture as a career.
It's often only when you step inside a real engineering environment and get stuck in, that textbook learning comes to life. Real world experiences matter.
It’s for this reason that Transicon that opening our doors to apprentices, trainees, work experience students and school pupils is important.
This year has been no different with Will Coleman, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Exeter, recently completing a work placement with us.
He said: “I wanted to get some hands-on experience and figure out what engineering is like in the real world, as opposed to just the classroom, and Transicon was the perfect fit.”
To coincide with World Youth Skills Day (July 15), an annual event highlighting the importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, Will recorded the accompanying video to share his experiences.
Why this matters to us
Developing the next generation of engineers is something we take seriously, and we are active in ensuring the industry maintains a pipeline of talent.
We have a long-running apprenticeship programme that has helped many young people build careers in engineering, and we're increasingly focused on bringing in university placement students like Will too.
We’ve hosted three apprentices this summer and for the first time in 2025, our group of work experience students was split equally between male and female. It's a small but meaningful step but one that reflects the broader shift we've been working hard to bring about at Transicon to encourage greater diversity in our sector.
Our general manager Jennifer Hughes has made this a personal priority. Until recently she sat on the industry advisory board of Women in Manufacturing UK and was recently named among Britain's Great 100 manufacturing leaders by the Made In Group in recognition of her work championing skills, diversity and innovation across the sector.
Starting the engineering conversation early
By the time students reach Year 11, they’ve often made choices about their next steps in education and early career choices. For that reason, our commitment to inspiring the next generation of engineers starts well before they make those decisions.
Last year, as part of Make UK's National Manufacturing Day, we opened our doors to Year 9 students from Burton Borough School in Newport and Charlton School in Wellington, giving them a behind-the-scenes look at modern engineering in action from robotics and automated systems to the wide variety of careers our industry has to offer.
The event was delivered in partnership with Marvellous Manufacturing and the response from students was brilliant.
Jennifer said: "The more we can do as an industry to showcase what we're all about and the careers we offer, the better chance we have of developing and preserving a more diverse and skillful workforce for the years ahead."
Watch Will's video here and if you'd like to find out more about work placements or apprenticeships at Transicon, get in touch with the team.
Applications for our latest apprenticeship placement close today (July 15).
