Kwik Fit expands apprenticeship scheme

22 February 2022  

Kwik Fit intends to expand its apprenticeship scheme by 50% during 2022, in a move announced during National Apprenticeship Week, which took place 7-13 February.

In recent years Kwik Fit has offered between 150-200 apprenticeships per year, but during the next 12 months the company is seeking to recruit over 300 new apprentices. Throughout National Apprenticeship Week, Kwik Fit also highlighted its current apprentices via social media channels, allowing them to share their experiences and explain why they opted for an automotive career.

Paul Binks, Group People Director at Kwik Fit, said: “Like in many industries, the skills and knowledge required in the automotive sector are changing rapidly. As the apprentices of today will become the leaders of the business in the future it is vital that the foundation of their learning keeps pace with the needs of the market. One obvious example is the growing number of electric vehicles on our roads. We need to ensure we have the technicians to service them and so our apprentices get a grounding in EVs as part of their programme.”

Jack Wakeman from Telford joined Kwik Fit as an apprentice and last year received the NTDA Apprentice of the Year award. He is now a supervisor in the company’s Shrewsbury centre. He said: “I’ve loved cars since I was small and when I left school, I didn’t want to go to uni but found an apprenticeship in something l was passionate about. The Kwik Fit programme was perfect, and I loved it from day one. There is lots of opportunity to progress and that’s my goal – to keep learning and move up the ladder. I’m really grateful to my managers and everyone who supported me in my apprenticeship, and I want to be able to help the next generation in the future.”

Paul Binks added: “Kwik Fit invested heavily in training and development delivering over 18,000 training days a year through its industry leading training academies. Apprentices are appointed into permanent roles and receive a structured training mix of classroom theory, e-learning, workshop practice and on the job coaching. This mix gives them a major advantage in developing the right skills for a long-term career.”

Over the years, Kwik-Fit has employed 4,000 people who started their automotive careers on a Kwik Fit apprenticeship.

For more information, visit www.kwik-fit.com