In 1996, a few years after the scheme started. AnTech heard about YINI through the local media, and thought it was something AnTech would be interested in supporting. Toni Miszewski, Managing Director of AnTech, went through a similar process during his undergraduate degree, so had first-hand experience.
Toni felt that his placement year tremendously benefited not only him, but the company he worked for. Initially, our aspirations were to provide other young people with a similar experience to Toni’s placement year, as it provides great opportunities to young people before or during university.
In terms of long-term recruitment, it allowed us to bring bright enthusiastic young people into the team, with whom we could train the ‘AnTech’ way. Knowing that the young people have been trained onsite by our own staff means that once the student has finished studying, we know that they have the experience to excel in the company.
It helped contribute to the age diversity within the business, and from our experience the placement students have brought with them ideas that others may not have done.
We develop drilling equipment for the international oil and gas industry, so it is imperative that we employ the best engineers we can find. To tackle this issue YINI provides us with the best solution, encouraging young people whilst still in education to work with us. Working together to help us be the best we can be.
The Year in Industry has exceeded our expectations – many of our YINI students have returned for holiday work during their studies with 1/3 of students being employed post-graduation.
For example, Ben Brooking, started at AnTech as a YINI in 2003, worked during his summer holidays during university, and was employed after he graduated in 2008. During this time, before permanent employment, he had the opportunity to see his ideas develop into a useful part of our drilling tool that is still being used today. Subsequently he has recently been promoted to Technical Manager. AnTech have benefitted greatly from being part of the scheme as bright young students can flourish in our community, and help aid the success of the business.
We believe that young people need the opportunity to gain experience in a manufacturing and production setting, to make informed decisions about their future careers. So partaking in the YINI scheme allows AnTech to build relationships with the local community, and allows young people to explore opportunities available to them.