During the event, the pupils from schools local to the Renishaw headquarters site attended to gain an insight into engineering. A total of 96 students participated in the engineering work experience programme and 21 students took part in a dedicated software engineering work experience week.
The engineering students were given a project brief, working in teams to create a business plan and concept model of a product by the end of the week and the software students were asked to work on a coding project. As a conclusion to the week all students presented their work to senior management.
New this year was the inclusion of job shadowing where each student was given the opportunity to shadow a Renishaw employee who was carrying out the same role that they had chosen within their team.
“The work experience weeks are a great opportunity for young people in the area to find out what an engineering career is really like,” explained Siobhan Denniff, education outreach executive at Renishaw. “The projects are modelled on the way Renishaw operates, which is why it’s great to see so many work experience attendees apply for our apprenticeships.
“At this year’s apprenticeship assessment, 15% of shortlisted applicants were from the work experience programme,” she added. “This is very encouraging, particularly as we are seeing an increase in applicants to our software work experience scheme, which we expanded from 2017 and now plan to further increase next year.”
James Joynson, a second-year manufacturing apprentice at Renishaw and previous work experience attendee was one of the team mentors this year and enjoyed supporting the students throughout the week.
“I have always had an interest in engineering,” he explained. “During my own work experience week, I took on the role of production engineer in my team and was shown all of the facilities and equipment at Renishaw, and knew I wanted to become an apprentice one day.
“It’s been great so far, studying at college part-time and working in the machine shop,” he added. “Work experience really opened my eyes to Renishaw and engineering in general. I would recommend it to everyone.”
Renishaw www.renishaw.com/careers