Specialist Fire & Security resourcing consultancy Zitko has unveiled Talent: a new industrywide training initiative designed to address the growing shortage of engineers trained for design, engineering, commissioning and support.

Talent is a coalition of employers, manufacturers, training companies and industry bodies, who are coming together to provide a year’s structured paid employment and certified training specific to the trainee, their employer and job.

Highlights include 125 hours’ accredited security technical training (classroom and distance) and around 160 hours’ manufacturer-provided training, with certifications in up to six systems. This is alongside an appropriately supervised job, generally in installation.

Zitko MD George Zitko: “We work for over 120 integrators and installers in Fire & Security. Many tell us they would love to train more people, but are put off by the logistics, costs and perceived risk that trainees will be ‘poached’.

“Talent is heavily tailored to trainees’ and employers’ precise needs. Your trainee will have been carefully matched to your company and then receives specific training in your applications, methods and key systems.

“Basically, their skills are purpose-built for your business, so you’ll gain a team member who’s absolutely in their element with you and far less likely to leave. All at a fraction of the price of training on your own, thanks to our economies of scale”.

Talent has been developed with a wide audience in mind. There are streams for school and college leavers, university graduates, engineers in other relevant industries, ex-Forces personnel, and career changers who have a particular technical aptitude.

Content is structured accordingly, in close cooperation with the employer and the trainees themselves. The Talent team provides full course admin support and a helpline for participants so they can get the most from the programme.

Zitko Talent will also be handling programme marketing, the application process and detailed shortlisting. This leverages the company’s proven expertise in talent mapping and pipelining for the Fire & Security Industry.

Priya Vencatasawmy will be operational lead on the programme for Zitko, reporting to the Board. She joined the company as a consultant in 2019 from Johnson Controls, where she coordinated technical training and CPD for a large field engineering workforce.