In a rare triumph for both the youth and the manufacturing sector, Rochdale’s R&B Switchgear Group has taken on five young engineers full-time after they managed not to electrocute themselves or break anything significant during their T-Level placements.
The Heywood-based firm, which clearly hasn’t been watching the news about “lazy Gen Z,” has now embedded T-Levels, the two-year practical qualification for 16 to 19-year-olds, into its recruitment strategy, in a move that has surprised absolutely no one who’s ever tried to hire an engineer not born during the Falklands War.
T-Levels combine classroom learning with 45 days of industry placement, which in Rochdale apparently means wiring high-voltage gear while being subtly judged by blokes named Colin. The scheme has helped R&B bridge the yawning skills gap currently costing the UK economy over £6 billion a year, or roughly one Boris Johnson pandemic contract.
Gavin Chadwick, Technical and Training Manager (and possible wizard), said: “We realised half our workforce is one wet Tuesday away from retirement, and nobody’s queuing up to replace them. So we built our own engineers using teenagers and structured qualifications, like a STEM version of Frankenstein.”
R&B has now hosted 12 students so far, with at least five surviving long enough to earn full-time jobs. The students reportedly brought “a breath of fresh air” to the workplace, though whether that’s from new ideas or just remembering deodorant remains unconfirmed.
The company said T-Level placements give them a better idea of candidates’ potential than traditional interviews, which in engineering typically involve asking someone if they know what a spanner is and hoping for the best.
With Greater Manchester now boasting the UK’s biggest engineering cluster, the region is becoming the go-to destination for anyone who fancies building the future without moving to Milton Keynes.
From down the M62, we applaud R&B’s bold move: proving that with the right support, Rochdale’s youth can wire a control panel, pass their qualifications, and still make it home in time to forget their tea in the microwave.
