Engineering the future: Why successful apprenticeships are a team effort

My mantra for 2025 is “Let me live my life in a way that makes me proud” and this year I am focusing on my Ikigai.

Ikigai is a Japanese term that blends two words “iki” meaning “to live” and “gai” meaning “reason” which translates as “a reason to live”. It’s a concept that encourages us to discover what truly matters for us to live a life that has both purpose and meaning. If I apply this into my work life and career, I realised a long time ago that my “Ikigai” is to enable and support young people to be a better version of themselves inside and outside of work – if they want to be. I get genuinely excited about their future and their potential.

I recently joined John Crane to look after their Early Career programme in England, previously I have worked for some of the UK’s most interesting and innovative scientific and engineering organisations. I wanted my next role to be in a company whose values and ethos around training and the development of young people matched with my own. In essence I wouldn’t feel confident encouraging young people to join a business if I didn’t feel they were going to be looked after and mentored properly.

For me, a company culture is all about the people, there are many here who at John Crane joined as apprentices 30 to 40 years ago and they are still here. Now experts in their subject areas who have had interesting and global impactful careers. There is a genuine desire from those individuals to teach and pass on their knowledge and wisdom to the next generation. It’s important for us as what we do is very niche, we don’t want that knowledge to disappear, and we want to encourage a new wave of humans to be successful at John Crane.

My view is that it takes a village to raise a child, and it is the same with delivering effecting Apprenticeship programmes. It’s a collaboration and synergy between the business, the Apprentice Training Provider, The Apprentice and their line managers and mentors and of course the Apprentices’ family. A real collaboration and a team effort.

Rather than a chance encounter or opportunities arising because students have parents that can open those doors for them. I feel passionately that young people should be able to engineer their own futures and have access to the opportunities that suit them best and they deserve.

Not everyone can afford to go to university where the average cost of a degree in England is now around £70,000 and not all individuals and families want to be burdened with that level of student debt.

The lack of education around Apprenticeship opportunities in schools is obvious. Teachers and careers advisors often don’t have the time to look at Apprenticeship offerings for young people and parents find it difficult to navigate the wide variety of options and choices available.

John Crane has been running degree level Apprenticeships for a couple of years for our Engineering team with great success and have recently launched our first-degree Mechanical Engineering programme for our team based in Manchester. There are still many people that have no idea you can gain a degree as part of an apprenticeship programme. Let’s remember that going to University isn’t for everyone, some students have very different learning styles.

I am excited to introduce the programme for young people who perhaps thought the cost of obtaining a university education was too out of reach. Building on our existing relationship with The University of Sheffield we are partnering with The AMRC one of UK’s leading engineering training providers, apprentices will be able to earn a good salary while receiving on-the-job training, rotations around our business and a well-rounded university experience which includes living in the halls of residence at the University of Sheffield. We hope that this will help them kickstart a fulfilling career with us in engineering and gain their degree from a Russell Group University.

In welcoming new Apprentices into John Crane, I hope they can bring their whole self to work, that we give them the space and time to learn and grow and inspire them to be what they wish to see. They are our future.

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Sally-Anne Williams is Early Career Partner at John Crane.