Routeco Academy is a 12-month fast-track academy programme designed to develop knowledge and understanding of the Routeco business and the skills needed to succeed in the STEM industry. To learn more, we spoke to Damian Spall, Group Technical Director at Routeco.
The whys, whats, and whens
So what reasons does Routeco have for offering this programme? Spall explored this question first: “The primary reason behind the programme is that all businesses in the industry are finding recruitment very challenging. It’s getting harder to find good people and getting increasingly competitive out there.”
“For us at Routeco, we have a very good but ageing workforce, particularly in our specialists and technical teams.”
“As a tech company, we want to utilise their experience and offer a platform for growth for graduates looking to get into the industry that provides hands-on experience and the backing of industry specialists.”
The programme itself will run over the space of 12 months, which includes recruitment to facilitate the different timetables seen across Europe, which the programme encourages applications from. At the start, these recruits will be given a role within the company to learn the basics. Once the full team is recruited they will then move onto the programme proper, working together as a team and completing tasks together.
“The primary focus of the programmes is going to be across three key areas; sales, technical, and commercial with a real mixture of both structured technical product training, coaching and mentoring, as well as going out into the field with our specialist and sales teams,” he continued.
These activities are not limited to the UK either, with Routeco’s facilities spanning across Europe, applicants can expect to have parts of the programme hosted in Belgium, Netherlands, and Austria. “We feel as if this is a great opportunity for young graduates to experience both the industry, but also different cultures and a multi-national business.”
Once the programme is completed, recruits can expect a full role offered to them in a wide range of positions at the company. “Ideally we would love for the team that has grown together to stay together, but there are additional roles that can be applied for as well,” explains Spall. These roles include anything from software development, and engineering, to mechatronics.
At its core, Routeco is offering a paid learning experience, with the guarantee of a job at the end of the placement. All of this is at a place that prides itself on being a positive workplace with flexible benefits and a multi-cultural model.
Inclusion is something that is incredibly important to Routeco and its family, and Spall actively encourages those from often underrepresented backgrounds or profiles to see this programme as a great stepping stone into an exciting industry. In particular, Spall looks forward to seeing upticks in female applicants, given the often-neglected inclusion of this massive talent pool within STEM industries.
Securing a future
For Spall, it’s all about “a short-term structure, with a long-term vision,” and that any graduate going into the programme will know with confidence that they will go into a structured and constructive year with a role awaiting them at the end of it all.
The programme is designed in a way “that once your programme finishes, you can go into a role that best suits you and really hit the ground running,” says Spall.
Additionally, Spall actively encourages anybody prospecting for a career in the sector to be very excited about their futures and the opportunities out there. “There’s never been a better time to be involved and interested in the manufacturing and wider STEM sector,” he enthuses. “We’re consistently seeing more and more investment and innovation going into manufacturing across the UK and Europe, whether this be in robotics, materials, or the ever-growing talks regarding AI, machine learning, and tech like augmented reality,” continues Spall. Just like how these areas are on Routeco’s roadmaps, so too should they be a part of any prospecting STEM student out there.
You can find out even more about the programme and apply for a position on the Routeco website here: Technical partner for control and automation products | Routeco.
