Careers and training

Promoting the industry to the next generation of talent is vitally important to the BCF. Members can advertise their job vacancies to potential new entrants on the Coatings Careers Hub free of charge. The jobs board is updated weekly, and vacancies will now be posted by the BCF directly for you. We will promote any available UK roles for BCF Full and Associate member companies, alongside an employer profile with a description of your choice, with web and social media links for candidates. If you have a job vacancy that you would like us to advertise, please send your details to Sophie Dunham, Marketing Executive, at sophie.dunham@bcf.co.uk.

The Coatings Careers Hub will help to grow the profile and public awareness of the coatings, printing inks and wallcoverings industries. After siginificant work on the Hub behind the scenes in 2021, BCF are now seeing to grow the number of member companies taking up the free jobs board service, with over 50 registered employers and counting. Video profiles have been created of talented individuals in member companies who explain their career development and choices.

The Careers Hub also gives details of BCF’s Apprenticeship Service and the Coatings Training Institute’s distance learning training platform.

Coatings Ambassador programme

The British Coatings Federation has partnered with the Surface Coatings Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry, PRA and OCCA to create a national network of ambassadors for the coatings industry.

Through the Coatings Ambassador programme, we will show the younger generation the many benefits of working in the coatings industry. The training, delivered by Cogent Skills, is designed to equip our ambassadors with the skills and materials to run their own sessions with local schools and universities. Our goal is to explain the contribution the coatings industry makes to the economy and society, as well as the many varied roles and opportunities within it. Following two successful events at the end of 2019 and the first virtual Coatings Ambassador training event held in July 2020, our 2022 workshop took place on the 4th May at the BCF office.

May’s workshop hosted a diverse group of attendees from organisations including AkzoNobel, SherwinWilliams, BASF, Lake Coatings, HMG Paints, Mylands, BTC Europe, Indestructible Paints, Fujichem Sonneborn, Neotech Speciality Chemicals and Nordmann.

As employees working within the coatings industry, whether as a scientist, or in key business departments such as HR, we need you to help us engage with those who are deciding their future careers.

We would like to thank both the companies and individuals who took part and who are now part of an important and growing network. Everyone who attended received a certificate and access to useful resources and session plans, enabling them to go into schools or universities and engage with those about to begin their careers.

BCF Coatings Ambassadors workshop, May 2022

BCF’s Apprenticeship Service

BCF’s Apprenticeship Service has been purpose built by the Apprenticeship Management Group (AMG). As an Apprentice Training Agency (ATA) the AMG can employ apprentices on behalf of BCF members. The AMG are specialists in recruitment with a dedicated team which works solely in the sector.

The AMG, have already helped several BCF members to scope the opportunities to incorporate apprenticeships as part of their own training and development programme, recruit new apprentices and identify the most suitable apprenticeship Standard for existing employees.

Technical Apprenticeships

To further help members take advantage of technical apprenticeships, BCF’s Apprenticeship Service has teamed up with Tiro, a leading trainer provider for science and technology apprenticeships. Tiro’s level 3 Laboratory Technician and Science Manufacturing Technician apprenticeships will both utilise the Coatings Training Institute (CTI) as the knowledge element of the apprenticeship. Six CTI modules, selected by the apprentice and their manager to support their learning and job role, are included in the Laboratory Technician and Science Manufacturing Technician Apprenticeships with Tiro. This allows BCF members to benefit from government funding to cover the cost of the CTI modules, something that has not previously been possible.

Tiro apprentices will receive both a Tiro tutor, alongside a CTI tutor who has extensive knowledge of the coatings industry. They are also supported by a company mentor, who can support the apprentice as they move through the course material. The CTI training provides great benefits, both to the employee and the organisation. Our new partnership with Tiro enables their apprentices to develop an extensive knowledge of the coatings industry.

To find out more about coatings apprenticeships, please visit: The Coatings Training Institute (thecoatingsinstitute.com)

• Self-study, where and when you want it

• Bite sized learning at your own pace

• Comprehensive support from qualified tutors

• Online and written assessments

• Taster versions available to download before you buy