Based in Widnes, Trade Training provides electrical training and qualifications, personal development, career advice and on-going support for people who want to start their journey to a career in the electrical sector, and electricians who want to up-skill and broaden their career prospects. Established by Greg Hoonahian, an experienced electrician and electrical trainer, the organisation delivers training for people from across the North West of England, providing evening and weekend courses to enable people to continue working while they learn.
Impressed by Trade Training’s ethos and the calibre of training provided, general manager EMEA of Ideal Industries, Brett Smyth, has stepped in to help the training provider with donations of the company’s range of In-Sure Push-in, Lever and In-line connectors. Ideal Industries has also provided a number of Safe Isolation kits for use by students to practice locking out and tagging isolations.
Brett comments: “With the UK moving towards increased use of electric vehicles, smart technology and electric heating and hot water systems, there is a wealth of opportunity in the electrical sector. Meanwhile, the effects of the pandemic mean that many people are re-thinking their careers and looking for something that offers them a more reliable and sustainable career path: retraining as an electrician is an excellent option.
“Trade Training is addressing both of those needs with affordable, accessible training that people of all skill levels can complete while continuing to work if they need to. That’s a great way to help new talent into the sector, because paying the bills while retraining is often a major obstacle for people who want to take their career in a new direction. We’re delighted to be able to support this brilliant initiative and I hope the partnership will continue to grow over time.”
Greg himself is proof that it’s possible to continue working while being involved with training. He runs the training centre and delivers courses at evenings and weekends, while working three days a week carrying out electrical safety inspections and tests. During his career, he has worked on the tools and as a trainer for both companies and further education colleges, and has used Ideal Industries’ In-Sure connectors for many years.
“It’s brilliant that Ideal Industries have provided us with the In-Sure connectors because I know how much time they save on site and our students love them,” Greg says. “Until I started discussing how we could work together with the Ideal Industries’ team I had no idea how many other products they make and I’m looking forward to getting the team in to demo some of the other innovative tools and accessories in their range.
“We provide a high standard of accredited training delivered by myself and a number of experienced professionals, along with support and guidance to help students develop their career or become self-employed. As a not-for-profit organisation that aims to keep training as affordable as possible, however, it’s not always easy to fund the wide variety of quality products that students may use on site, so Ideal Industries’ support is absolutely invaluable.”
Ideal Industries’ involvement with Trade Training is the latest in the company’s programme of knowledge sharing partnerships with colleges and training providers, which includes Warrington & Vale Royal College and Coleg Cambria in Wrexham. Each relationship is tailored to the needs of the training provider and enables the Ideal Industries team to feed industry insight and user experience into its product development and marketing.
Brett adds: “We are passionate about offering products that make installations faster, safer and quality assured. Working with the skilled and experienced electricians that provide training and the people starting out on their electrical careers who will use our products in the future embeds genuine understanding of what the sector needs in our product development and customer interactions so that we can be more responsive to their requirements.”
