BMet and West Midlands Fire Service partnership ignites new pre-employment opportunities

BMet’s longstanding commitment to providing career-enhancing opportunities for students and the community at large is set to bolster, via a new partnership with West Midlands Fire Service.

The collaborative BMet Pre-employment Training Programme has been specially designed to equip jobseekers with experience and skills that will be advantageous for a firefighter role and a variety of pathways.

With a focus on “soft skills” which have an emphasis on building communication and customer service attributes, the programme will enable jobseekers to develop key qualities that are essential to solidifying community engagement.

Plus, successful applicants will be able to gain invaluable training with an emphasis on physical fitness, nutrition and health and safety skills at BMet. Sessions will include visits to a West Midlands Fire Service Training Centre and regular drop-in classroom sessions, delivered by key employees of the fire service.

The free 1-month programme, ran in collaboration with The Department of Work and Pensions, will also include:

• Four weeks of intensive training including a physical fitness test
• An accredited Level 1 Customer Service Qualification
• An accredited Level 1 Health & Safety Qualification
• Bespoke employability support – including CV and interview support in addition to fire station.

As well as supporting the application process with the West Midlands Fire Service, BMet’s tailor made programme will enable job seekers to be enriched with aptitudes that will be a good foundation to becoming a firefighter or to pursue other courses/careers at BMet including working in the Rail Industry or in the NHS.

Speaking of the rewarding community-focused programme, Paul McCalla, Business Development Manager at BMet said:

“We are delighted at BMet to be working with such an established and renowned organisation as the West Midlands Fire Service to provide sustainable pre-employment opportunities, that will be mutually rewarding for our college, the fire service and the community at large.

“This programme could offer a huge steppingstone for many job seekers who are looking for pathways that will help them progress on their personal career journeys.  We are proud of this effective collaboration, that enables us to work with a range of departments across our colleges including community, work experience and sports teams.”

Firefighters are ordinary people who do extraordinary things – all for the benefit of their communities.

Traditionally firefighters are seen as responding to fires and rescuing people. Full time fighters respond assertively, effectively and safely to a wide variety of incidents, 24/7.

They also dedicate their time to community fire safety activities, which are called ‘prevention’. As a firefighter, being able to communicate effectively with a wide variety of people is important.

BMet’s career-enhancing programme has been created to support jobseekers on their journey to seeking sustainable employment.

Here is what Andrew Spencer, Watch Manager from West Midlands Fire Service has to say about the BMet partnership: “If individuals come through the BMet programme, they gain valuable knowledge which will provide them with an insight into the world of the fire service.  They can learn key customer service skills and start to understand what it takes to be a firefighter from a community engagement perspective.

“The firefighter recruitment process is a long programme that can take up to one year in some instances, so working with BMet to provide individuals from our local communities an insight into our world is invaluable.  We look forward to supporting learners on their journey to become our future firefighters.”

For more information about the BMet Pre-employment Programme, please contact Paul McCalla, BMet Business Development Manager at paul.mccalla@bmet.ac.uk or on 07712 407007.