Industry and skills organisations have welcomed two separate reports of a surge in job vacancies in the glazing and wider construction sectors.
GQA Qualifications, with its partner, the Building Our Skills organisation, has highlighted news that job posts for glaziers, window fabricators and installers had more than doubled (up 111%) in Q3 2020 according to the publication Further Education News.
Meanwhile, ONS figures published today (January 26) showing construction vacancies in Q4 up 8% over the same period last year, with an estimated 28,000 vacancies, were welcomed by representatives of the free recruitment platform, the Construction Talent Retention Scheme.
GQA director Shaun McAllister says the independent FE News report bears out previous hearsay about the recent rise in work. “The growth in demand for glaziers, window fabricators and installers also underlines the need we have to bring more people into the fenestration industry and to upskill existing industry employees in order to raise standards and support career development.
“The timing could not be better for our partners, the Building Our Skills – Making Fenestration a Career of Choice campaign. Building Our Skills has just announced the launch of a practical training programme.”
A spokesperson for the Construction Talent Retention Scheme said: “While a range of industries such as hospitality, leisure and retail continue to reel from the impact of Covid-19 and lockdown, construction has become one of the shining lights for job hunters, bouncing back from its sharp 41% fall in vacancies in March 2020 to become one of the very few areas where recruitment is now picking up.”
The Construction Talent Retention Scheme is a not-for-profit programme, funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and backed by business organisations, professional institutions and construction unions. Its online portal enables job hunters to upload their CV and make contact with more than 770 potential employers.
The portal is currently advertising 1,124 live vacancies for roles as varied as senior construction project managers to customer service staff, engineers, salespeople, estimators, digger operators, HGV drivers, handypersons, electricians, plasterers and plumbers, and warehouse assistants.
www.gqaqualifications.com
https://www.trs-system.co.uk/construction
