Go North East, the region’s largest bus company, has welcomed 160 students from schools including Walker Riverside Academy and Percy Hedley, as part of the NE1 Can programme, to its Gateshead Riverside depot to showcase its career and apprenticeship opportunities.
The aim of the programme is to raise aspiration and ambition amongst young people whilst also providing real knowledge and insight into what careers choices and opportunities are available to young people across the region.
The visits to the depot were delivered by Go North East’s latest intake of their talent development programme (Ryan Smith, Will Edet, Emma Spraggon and Ian Gilmour-Ivens), and involved innovative internal and external tours, as well as chats with members of a variety of employees including Mellissa Millington, who is a second year engineering apprentice at the company.
Go North East’s talent development programme allows team members from a variety of roles to be placed on secondments across the company, as well as taking up leadership and development training at Gateshead College, giving the candidates the best possible opportunity for progression.
Kerry McCabe, Business Network Manager at NE1, said: “We have been absolutely overwhelmed by the commitment, energy, passion, personality and professionality demonstrated by every single person encountered on our visits to Go North East over the last month.
“I really hope we’ve managed to inspire some employees of tomorrow and believe that whatever careers choices these young people make, they’ve now encountered a fantastic bunch of role models in the workplace which makes them feel more confident about their own futures.”
Martijn Gilbert, Managing Director at Go North East, added: “The NE1 Can programme is a great initiative that we’re pleased to part of. At Go North East we offer a range of apprenticeships, giving youngsters a helping hand on the career ladder and are committed to investing in our people.
“Colin Barnes, our Engineering Director, is the shining light of how well apprenticeships at Go North East work. He joined the company when he was just 17 and has worked his way up to be a senior leader in the company.”
