An increased number of Rotherham school and college pupils are set to benefit from ‘on the job’ work experience and training after Willmott Dixon opened its doors to students.

Willmott Dixon Partnerships, which repairs and maintains 12,000 homes in Rotherham, plans to offer a minimum of ten work experience placements each year to school pupils and students at the company’s Rotherham branch as part of its ‘Opening Doors’ programme.

The programme, which has been running across the company’s UK operations, aims to interest young people in vocational training. So far, Willmott Dixon has provided over 11,000 hours of work experience for young people each year and hopes to boost this figure even further after expanding Opening Doors placements.

15 year old Joseph Hughes, who attends St Bernard’s School, in Rotherham, was the first local student to benefit from the introduction of the scheme in Rotherham. He spent one week working with the Customer and Community Officer for Rotherham branch, to gain an overview of the office environment and a better understanding of business procedures, before spending time following a team of plumbers and plasterers.

Joseph said: “At the moment I am not sure exactly what I want to do as a career but think that my work experience with Willmott Dixon has definitely given me a better understanding of the workplace and will help me to decide in future. I very much enjoyed following the plumbers and plasterers and seeing how it all worked, they even let me help with some of the easy bits. Although I preferred being on site, I think the area of work I’d quite like to pursue would involve business management. I would say to anyone interested in either a career in business management or a trade to definitely consider getting a work experience placement at Willmott Dixon, it was a very good experience for me and opened my eyes to the working world.”

Willmott Dixon has also recently appointed six new apprentices in the Rotherham branch. Willmott Dixon Partnerships managing director, Mick Williamson said: “We are investing in the communities in which we work to create a lasting legacy. We are therefore keen to provide practical hands on experience for students wherever possible. In this current economic climate, many companies are turning away from vocational learning; however we recognise the value such investment has for the long term and for the success of our business.”