Training: The Remit Vision

Remit have re-grouped and have taken training into the twenty first century with plans for a career-based training regime which takes youngsters from school right though the formative part of their early career in the automotive service industry.

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Remit has recently re-launched itself and given its image a makeover; a new logo, a new website, all integrated with the RMI’s new image. But is there something tangible – a new product, a new approach, a new vision, behind it all?

I spoke to Steve Yardley at Remit’s offices on the outskirts of Nottingham, centrally located between the RMI’s London headquarters and the UK’s major industrial cities of Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

Industry database

So; I asked, apart from the bright new logo, what else is new about Remit?

Yardley was clearly pleased to be given the opportunity to recount at length and in detail the core philosophy of the re-branded training company. (My original thoughts, along the lines of “OK, they do training, what else is there to say?” were swept aside as the breadth and scope of the company’s vision were revealed).

He confirmed that they certainly have a vision; of continuing to be the foremost provider of training in the automotive sector in the UK.

In order to achieve that, they are developing the largest centralised database of individuals in the automotive industry, with a complete associated training and experience history, running alongside a massive database of automotive industry businesses, including, of course, their personnel requirements.

This, he claims, uniquely positions them to match any individual to a suitable position, and conversely, to match any position with a suitably trained candidate with full training and career history, at the ‘press of a button’.

So how is that being achieved?

He explained: “We are looking at taking an individual right from school, or perhaps a young person who might have a Saturday job at a local garage or dealership; determining their needs, matching them to their desired occupation, arranging a place at a local college to gain qualifications, arranging funding, if applicable, and arranging mentoring at their place of work – nurturing them, if you like.” He continued “and while we are doing that we are tracking and recording their progress; their skills, experience and ongoing education, all are carefully logged as they progress, on the skills part of our database.”

“This is being carried out all over the country – we are attending careers events at thousands of schools all over the country, and processing four to five hundred applications a week (around seventeen thousand in the UK in 2009).”

Field personnel 

“At the other end of the equation, filling in the ‘positions’ side of the database, we have field personnel out talking to garages all over the country, finding out their needs – they are uncovering hundreds of vacancies a month – all are logged in such a way that we are able to query our skills database and when asked, match the individual with the position.”

Yardley explained that the ‘search’ whether for a candidate to match a job, or for a job to match a candidate, could contain many criteria; clearly experience and qualifications would form part of the primary search, but also available would be a complete training and career history, enabling prospective employers to quickly arrive at a shortlist of those whose experience and skills closely match the requirements of the job. The system is even capable of searching within geographic areas, for example, within a ten mile radius of the place of work.

Matching skills to positions

“That, of course, is only the ‘data’ side of things;” he continued, “The information capturing and processing, matching skills to positions, is all very well, but we’re dealing with people here, who have day to day needs – they may need mentoring, or they may need to have their skills brought up to scratch with courses, either with us or at local colleges, and that needs financing – so of course we bring our own skills to bear on their behalf; they can talk to us, and we know the routes to obtaining grants and funding, where it is available”.

“To the hard-pressed employer, being able to increase his workforce’s skills at very little or no cost, but in any case cost-effectively, is a considerable benefit, and it often makes the difference between taking someone on or not, or sending them for training, or not”

“On the other hand, when looking to fill a vacancy there is also the huge benefit of time saved in not ploughing through hundreds of unsuitable applicants every time a position comes up – the skills/position matching feature means only the most relevant candidates need to be interviewed”.

“To the employee, they have in effect their own careers advisor and counsellor, who knows everything about them; their experience, their qualifications and even their long-term goals, who will be with them throughout their career.”

“If they want to move, be it from one part of the country to another, or just into another department of the same company, then we might be able to present them not just with one possible option, but maybe a whole list of options, all matched to their skills and experience – everyone wins; the employer, the employee; the industry as a whole!”

A vision for the future 

So there you have it – the Remit ‘vision’ for the future – for every round peg, a round hole, for every square hole, a square peg, keeping the industry alive through training and nurturing skills on the one hand, and keeping businesses supplied with those skills in the right place at the right time on the other.

Clearly then, not just a case of sprucing up the logo and a ‘whizzy’ new website for Remit, but a real gear change, and a real vision for the future of the industry.

For further information Tel: 01159759550.
Email: steve.yardley@remit.co.uk

MOT Workshop Magazine

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