Liniar & Building Our Skills – On A Mission to Attract Talent into the Fenestration Industry

Building Our Skills (BOS) was established to tackle the growing skills gap within the fenestration, glass and glazing industry. By working closely with employees and other organisations (for example schools and colleges), the enterprise aims to attract new talent, upskill the existing workforce, and highlight the rich and varied choice of long-term career opportunities on offer.

Partnerships Manager Mark Handley states, “There’s so much more to fenestration than manufacturing windows and doors, and it’s essential we help people recognise this. If we don’t, not only will the industry suffer from a lack of fresh talent and a dwindling workforce, but many young people will miss valuable professional opportunities they simply never knew existed.”

As an industry leading manufacturer of PVCu window and door profiles with a long history of successfully running apprenticeships, as well as providing ongoing professional and vocational training and development, Liniar was keen to get involved. The company circulated an internal memo encouraging staff to volunteer their time and expertise, and one of the team members who accepted the challenge was Technical Services Manager, Marc Wilcoxson.

With a decade at Liniar under his belt, Marc has progressed through a variety of positions and developed a wealth of experience and insight into how the many departments within the company integrate to function as part of a highly successful, progressive business. This makes him an ideal candidate for helping young people and those interested in a career change understand the exciting and interesting roles he and his colleagues perform, which he recently did as part of BOS’s Inspiring the Future Campaign.

Marc gave his first set of educational talks to pupils ranging from 9 to 11 years old at Sunnyside Spencer Academy. Reflecting on the experience he explains, “The audience was a bit younger than I’d expected, but I was able to tailor my talk to make it appealing for the children.”

He continues, “I introduced myself and explained where I was from, what Liniar does and how it fits into the wider fenestration industry. The classrooms are all well-equipped, and I was able to show a short video from our YouTube channel.”

Asked how his audiences responded, Marc replied, “They were brilliant. The younger children asked questions you might expect from that age group.”

“For example, they wanted to know how much I get paid and if it’s more than a million pounds! I got that a lot. My focus was mostly on the manufacturing process and the technology involved. They were very interested in Liniar’s testing robot Mark II, who features in the video I showed them. The children wanted to know if he gets paid too, if he works all day, what he gets fed and if we put him in a box at night! It was so funny.”

The older pupils showed more awareness of career options and Marc recalls, “They wanted to know how I got into my job and what they could do to follow a similar path. We talked about different areas such as engineering, design, accounting, and marketing. All the different fields of interest they could pursue. I loved speaking to them and listening to them talk about the subjects they enjoy and what they might like to do in the future.”

Marc remains on standby as a BOS volunteer and is eagerly awaiting his next invitation to speak.

As a parting comment he says, “I hope when the children got home, they looked at the windows and doors on the houses they live in with new understanding and imagined the journey they’ve been on. If they come to work as part of the Liniar team or as an apprentice they know it’s not just about making PVCu profiles and outdoor products, there’s designing and AutoCAD, there’s computing and robotics now. Just lots of different variations within the industry they can get involved in.”

Liniar remains committed to its partnership with Building Our Skills and will continue encouraging its team members to help stimulate interest in the diverse range of opportunities our industry offers.

To find out more about careers at Liniar visit https://www.liniar.co.uk/careers/