Apprenticeship programmes for school leavers at two major defence employers in Fife have been “massively oversubscribed”.
Babcock in Rosyth and BAE Systems in Dunfermline say they had almost four times as many people applying for an apprenticeship with them as there were spaces.
However, both also warned MPs they are struggling to recruit people higher up the chain including steelworkers.
Huge demand in apprenticeship places
Speaking at a meeting of the Scottish Affairs Committee in Westminster, Simon Lister, managing director to BAE Systems, said they are keen to recruit people who have not achieved academically at school, but still want to become qualified tradespeople.
He said: “We had 170 new apprentices arriving last week but that intake was oversubscribed by a factor of three or four.
“Our job is to make sure from that group we select the right cross-section of skills to reflect our future needs as a business.”
John Howie, chief corporate affairs officer at Babcock, added he has a personal passion to get school leavers interested in a career in the so-called Stem subjects: science, technology, engineering and maths.
He added: “We have a pre-apprenticeship programme for school leavers in Fife and that has been massively oversubscribed.”
Mr Howie believes this is because of the relationship Babcock has with Fife College and because they are one of the biggest employers in the region.
‘Demand exceeds capacity’ for steelworkers
Both companies told MPs they are finding it difficult to hire people who are already experienced in the industry.
Mr Howie, from Babcock, said their graduate scheme is proving to be popular, but said “demand exceeds capacity” for steelworkers.
Mr Lister added: “Our ambition is to recruit another 400 core staff this year and that has already gone well but a personal question mark for me is will we be able to finish that recruitment fully?
“The evidence we have is steelworkers in particular are in very strong demand across the country as a result of increasing demand for wind, energy and shipbuilding.”
During the committee meeting Babcock also emphasised the importance of the UK Government’s policy for all warships to be built in the UK.
Mr Howie said any change to that policy would have a “significant impact” on jobs in Scotland and on Babcock’s ability to sell warships they make to foreign governments.