Academy Pupils Have Lunch with an Employer

As part of the last Lunch with an Employer session, pupils could see around a tractor.

A series of lunchtime speakers has been running at Stromness Academy since the start of this term, giving pupils the chance to access careers information directly from employers.

Held every two weeks and organised by the school’s DYW School Co-ordinator, Lunch with an Employer lets pupils hear from local employers about the job opportunities available with their businesses, discover some of the pathways available into careers and also learn about the subjects they should study at school or skills they might need to work in the business.

This term has included speakers from NOV on Flotta and Casey Construction.

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The last speaker of this term was Sandy Linklater from Linklater Engineering in Stenness.  Linklater Engineering are a Massey Ferguson dealership, offering a full sales, service and parts facility for agricultural, industrial and grounds care machinery.

Sandy told pupils about the three main careers available in the agricultural machinery trade, these are:  sales, parts and, agricultural technicians.  For Agricultural Technicians, the main jobs are diagnoses and repair of mechanical systems, hydraulic systems, electric and electronic systems and welding/fabrication, with an option to specialise in any of the roles.

For parts salespeople, the main jobs are identifying, ordering, keeping inventory and dispending parts.

Joining Sandy were two members of his team, Kyle and Joe.  Kyle has just completed his three-year AGCO apprenticeship, while Joe has just started his.  Both were able to speak to pupils about their apprenticeship, the subjects needed from school and also explain how they started working at Linklater Engineering.  For example, Joe completed a work placement which lead to a full-time job and his apprenticeship.

After they had spoken to pupils, there was then a chance to look around the Massey Ferguson S7.180 tractor that they had brought along to the school.  This was a very popular addition to the talk.

The apprenticeship that Linklater Engineering offers is the Land-based Service Engineering Technician in Agricultural Engineering at level 3.  This is delivered by AGCO and if you would like more information, you can speak to Sandy Linklater directly, or visit www.wcg.ac.uk/agcoapprenticeships

Thank you very much to Sandy, Kyle and Joe for coming to speak to pupils.

If any employers are interested in taking part in the Lunch with and Employer sessions, please contact DYW Orkney on [email protected] to discuss further.