Ahead of Scottish Careers Week 2024, DYW North East caught up with our team members Lee Scott and Kyle Wood. Both Lee and Kyle joined us straight from school as Graduate Apprentice Control & Instrumentation Engineers; Lee in 2019 and Kyle in 2023. They also share a connection with Career Ready, an 18-month programme for senior school pupils.

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Fresh-faced enthusiasm is commonplace from those who are starting out in their careers, however Lee and Kyle combine it with a maturity and confidence that is rare for a duo with less than a decade of workplace experience between them. This wisdom beyond their years is the first indication that they’re part of a company that does things differently.

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As Lee, who graduated in 2023 and is now a Control & Instrumentation Engineer, explains: “There’s a lot of freedom at Katoni to develop in a way that suits you. The company prefers to work with you to build a development plan that is right for you as an individual, rather than just for your current role.

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“I am a Control & Instrumentation Engineer but I also have an interest in the wider business. Katoni has supported this by providing a business rotation which allowed me to spend time in different departments and with members of the senior leadership team. This experience has facilitated my involvement in various aspects of business planning, development and improvement.”

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Lee initially encountered Katoni six years ago via the Career Ready programme for S5-S6 school pupils. The programme matches young people with companies who provide them with a mentor, a paid summer internship and a series of masterclasses to help prepare them for the world of work. Lee’s summer internship led to the offer of a Graduate Apprenticeship with Katoni, allowing him to study for a degree, alongside gaining work experience and a salary.

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Now qualified, Lee was the obvious choice of mentor for Kyle, who was appointed as a new Graduate Apprentice in September last year when Lee graduated.

Katoni’s focus on the individual, rather than the role, is reinforced by Kyle’s experience with the company to date. When asked for his job title, Kyle cites his role as school coordinator alongside his engineering position. For his first internal project at Katoni, he was tasked with creating a challenge where seven different secondary schools presented to the company about why they should become their school partner. The result? “After a lot of good discussion, we chose Bucksburn Academy as our partner school and we’re about to kick that off this month” he says.

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In keeping with the company’s pay-it-forward approach to developing others, Kyle has also recently become a Career Ready mentor. Over the next year and a half, he will mentor another school pupil as they complete their final years of secondary education and prepare for their next steps. As you might expect, he’s buoyed by the opportunity.

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“I’m very excited to begin my mentoring journey, as I think I’ll be one of the youngest mentors on the programme ever!” he says. “I feel I’ll be able to bring a completely different perspective to the programme and relate well to my mentee as I was in his shoes only a couple of years ago.”

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Kyle describes Katoni’s focus on young people as being at the company’s core “right from the very top to the bottom.”

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He also challenges other employers to embrace supporting young people via programmes such as Career Ready, saying: “For employers it’s a no brainer. You’re benefiting a young person but you could also find your next trainee or apprentice. At the end of the day, if employers want the next generation to be up to their standard, we need to show them what’s expected at an early stage!”

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Extracted from: https://www.dyw.org.uk/news/helping-young-people-become-career-ready-the-katoni-way