Retra are proud to support the excellent work of the Household Electrical and Electronic Servicing Training (HEEST) Forum, which recently launched a Trailblazer apprenticeship scheme to nurture the skills required for the future of the UK’s consumer electronics industry.
As smart technologies advance at rapid pace it becomes ever more important to ensure that service personnel are proficient not just with the latest technologies but also the network structures within which they operate. They also need to have excellent customer-facing skills, advising and helping people get the most from their technology products and services at home and in the workplace..
Technology has moved on
This new breed of service engineer needs to be familiar with the common pitfalls and specific issues that can arise when multiple connected products are networked. Safe working practices and due diligence need to be adhered to when working in a customer’s home, but the demands of this are very different to how they were just a few years ago.
HEEST Forum and Retra are therefore committed to helping our service engineers of the future learn the right skills in order to be the best they can be in this exciting field. Together with other collaborators we are working to train enthusiastic people not only on navigating complex new technologies, but also the safe working practices and customer relationship skills that are required on a daily basis.
Since its formation in 2010, the HEEST Forum has worked with:
- City & Guilds to produce Diplomas in installing and servicing consumer electrical and electronic products.
- SummitSkills, the Sector Skills Council, to produce an Apprenticeship Framework, incorporating City & Guilds qualifications and attracting Government funding.
- Gower College, to offer training for qualifications using web cloud technology, video tutorials and practical sessions in their state of the art workshops.
- BMet, working in conjunction with KnowHow and Chapmans Electrical to provide training across the electrical industry.
And it’s gaining momentum too, with one of HEEST’s first apprentices trained at Gower College in Swansea winning Gold at the World Skills Live National Finals. If you’d like to know more about the HEEST Forum and get involved with the apprenticeship, then please get in touch:
