Sunderland pump manufacturer Grundfos takes on six new apprentices

Sam Lawley, 17, from Boldon, Aaron Halliday, 18, from Sunderland, Finlay Hamilton, 17, from Hartlepool, Alfie Cullerton, 18, from Murton and Mitchell Welsh from Gateshead have joined the company as production apprentices with support from Sunderland College.

Jack McGhin, 19, from Sunderland, has joined as a toolmaker apprentice, with support from Washington-based training provider SETA.

Based in Castletown, Grundfos regularly offers apprentice opportunities. Last year the company recruited four young people. Each apprentice is assigned a mentor to help them settle in and answer any questions they may have.

The production apprentices spend their first year at college before splitting their time between the classroom and the firm’s plant over the remainder of the course. Mitchell and Alfie’s apprenticeships involve them working full-time at the plant.

Plant director John Austin said: “We take training very seriously and a large percentage of our workforce have been through our apprenticeship programme.

“Mark Lister, our regional senior operations director, started his Grundfos career as an apprentice and now has a global role within the company.

“Apprenticeship programmes are a great way to train our workforce, combining on-the-job training with classroom learning.

“We enjoy working with Sunderland College and SETA on our apprenticeship programmes, they help identify and then recruit some first-class candidates and make the whole process easy and straightforward.”

Andy Robinson, production supervisor at Grundfos, works with the apprentices on a day to day basis.

He said: “The college shortlisted candidates for us and then they each had two interviews – Alfie, Jack and Mitchell also sat practical tests. There were 14 shortlisted for the six roles we had this year.

“What we’re looking for in each candidate is a genuine interest in engineering and manufacturing and some evidence that they’ve done some research on Grundfos.”

Aaron said: “The recruitment process was smooth and we’ve enjoyed the first few days of induction. My uncle used to work at Grundfos and spoke very highly of the company and said it was a great place to work.”

Grundfos is a Danish company and the world’s leading pump manufacturer. It employs over 18,000 people globally. It opened a Wearside plant in 1973 and now employs more than 150 people at Castletown.