National Apprenticeship Week 2022 is taking place this year from 7th to 13th February and provides a great opportunity for businesses to celebrate their apprentices and showcase the opportunities that they can provide to people seeking an apprenticeship.  At present, Heyn Handling Solutions employs seven young men on Apprenticeship programmes.  

Today we shift focus onto our Stores and Aaron Leeman, Apprentice Storesperson.    Aaron is mainly based in the warehouse at our Corry Place site and is mentored by John Irwin, General Manager of Heyn Environmental.    Aaron is a second year apprentice and has been with Heyn for 15 months.  

Overview of your role with Heyn?
The typical tasks that I complete in my day at Heyn is the receipt of goods, verifying them against delivery dockets and goods receiving them for our accounts payable team.  I handle all deliveries coming into the yard and also am involved with packing and sending out orders to customers.  

How have you progressed over the last year of your apprenticeship?
I have gained my forklift license this year and can now take loads on and off delivery vehicles.  I've also learned a lot more about wrapping goods and strapping pallets together.  

Have you any aspirations for the next stage of your apprenticeship?
I want to continue to learn on the job and enhance my skills to take back to the work on my classroom.   I'd like to get some more experience of other aspects of the business as well including engineering skills.    Luckily Heyn is a diverse business and it's possible to gain skills across the divisions.  

What do you see as the main advantages of the apprenticeship programme?
It's great to get paid to learn new skills and get on the job training.  It makes the lessons more exciting that simply sitting in the classroom learning the theory.