You’re hired!
Exciting Career prospects for Greenvale Apprentices
Duns-based potato producer Greenvale is celebrating the graduation of its Modern Apprentices at an awards presentation to mark the successful completion of their programme. The apprentices were presented with their awards by Greenvale’s Chief Executive, Angus Armstrong, on Monday 23rd February.
The five youngsters, based at the Duns site, have spent the past two years learning all aspects operations and are now looking forward to building their careers within Greenvale.
Jordan Blaikie (19), Jack Ford (18), Ross Reid (19), Luke Turner (18) and Joanna Dixon (19) worked in various departments at the Craigswalls site, including production, packing and quality control, as well as completing a week-long residential course with the Outward Bound Trust in the Lake District.
In addition to the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) vocational qualification, the apprentices also completed a Food Hygiene and Health and Safety certificate in order to meet the requirements of the full Modern Apprenticeship qualification with Improve, the Food and Drink Sector Skills Council.
“During my apprenticeship I learnt all the different roles at Greenvale from in the field to the distribution of the product.” said Luke Turner.
“I really enjoyed the two years developing my skills and being involved with a large company like Greenvale. They have given me the opportunity to expand in the factory with my new job as one of the Quality Controllers, one of the many roles I learnt while on my apprenticeship”.
The Greenvale Apprenticeship Programme commences in June each year, and has been specially designed to provide people aged 16-18 with the skills and knowledge they need to build a career at Greenvale. Not only benefitting from hands-on experience in the workplace, getting an industry-recognised qualification and a role at the end of the course, participants earn a salary whilst they train.
Ross Reid explained, “I started as a Team Member, but with the skills I gained over the 2 years I started helping out in some of the key jobs from running machines, checking the outgrade boxes and hygiene. After 6 months I moved on to Night Shift Hygiene Team and I was also used as cover for the Celox potato grader and other machines.”
Jack Ford commented, “The apprenticeship programme is a good opportunity for anyone who’s leaving school because you’ve got the opportunity to learn a lot of new things and progress through the factory.”
Jordan Blaikie, who worked at Greenvale before commencing the course, is now a multi-skilled Quality Controller. His advice to people considering applying to join the scheme, “Don’t underestimate the job – washing and packing potatoes is a lot harder than it looks, but there are plenty of opportunities here at Greenvale for people to shine.”
Applications for the 2015 scheme are now being accepted. If you are looking to leave school this year, and want to step straight in to training, visit www.greenvale.co.uk/careers/apprentices to download an application form.