A talented young East Kilbride electrician has been rewarded for his “unprecedented enthusiasm” after being chosen as the winner of the Scottish Joint Industry Board (SJIB) Apprentice of the Year.
Scott Ahern managed to see off an exceptional field of emerging electrical talent to lift the 2024 trophy after impressing the SJIB panel of judges at the event in conjunction with Edmundson Electrical.
SJIB chair Jock Simpson also presented the 27-year-old with a voucher for £1000 at the awards ceremony in the Edinburgh Marriott Hotel Holyrood last week where Central Scotland MSP Monica Lennon was the guest speaker.
Scott, who works for DRB UK Maintenance Ltd in Hamilton, completed his studies at New College Lanarkshire’s Motherwell Campus under the watchful eye of Scottish Electrical Charitable Training Trust (SECTT) training officer Gordon Penman.
He said: “My electrical apprenticeship has been very challenging but also extremely rewarding, so this award is the icing on the cake and makes all the hard work worthwhile.
“It was a huge surprise – but also a huge honour – to be selected from among my fellow apprentices, many of whom I know to be really talented professionals who have a great future in front of them.
“There is no doubt that I owe this award to the continuing support of my employers, lecturers and trainers who have been endlessly patient with me, and to everyone whom I’ve had the pleasure to work with and learn from in recent years.”
Jason Boyle, electrical project manager at DRB UK, said: “Scott has worked long and hard over the course of his apprenticeship and very much deserves his place in the spotlight.
“He is dedicated to his profession and is a perfect example of the quick, skilful and effective people we want to see coming into the industry and taking it forward into a new era.”
An interview with Scott will appear in the December edition of cabletalk, the stakeholder magazine of SELECT.
Catherine Gillon, the recently-appointed secretary of the SJIB, said: “Apprentices are the great hope for the sector’s future and the SJIB Apprentice of the Year Awards recognise and celebrate the very best of our new talent.
“At a time when more and more young people are choosing the electrical industry as a career, Scott has triumphed in an extremely close field after showing an unprecedented degree of commitment, dedication and enthusiasm.”
Founded in 1969 by SELECT and Unite the Union, the SJIB’s duties include regulating between employers and employees, providing benefits for people engaged in the industry and stimulating industry progress.
In addition, it has oversight of employment, skills and proficiency, health and safety competence, wages and welfare benefits across the electrical industry in Scotland.
Catherine, who is also director of employment affairs at SELECT, Scotland’s largest construction trade body, added: “This accolade also recognises the contribution that Scott and his fellow apprentices will make in our transition to net zero and the electrification of society.
“As technology continues to advance and electrical installation becomes ever more complex, Scott and his peers will go forward as an elite band of professionals who will hold the smooth running of the future in their hands.”
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