As a family-owned company, Claas said it had always placed great emphasis on the training and support it offered its employees.

The ‘family’ ethos is at the core of the business and this extends throughout the company which currently has more than 500 vocational trainees world-wide, including a tailored programme in the UK.

An essential element within this is the learning and support the company offers staff to enable them to provide the highest levels of product sales, service and support to customers. In addition, there is also the opportunity to progress within the group, with clear career paths and the ongoing training required to meet a person’s goals.

It said that it actively encouraged and supported the provision of training opportunities for employees, and provide a range of schemes and routes to employment. This can be either through the well established Claas Agricultural Apprenticeship scheme for service engineers or parts staff, student placements, or the post-university Graduate Management Trainee programme.

“Many people fail to appreciate that agriculture is an exciting industry, with machinery that uses state-of-the-art technology on a par with aerospace and other cutting-edge industries. It is an industry that has embraced the internet, satellite technology and computers like no other, as we continue to develop machinery that will help farmers feed an ever growing population,” explained Trevor Tyrrell, CEO of Claas UK.

For more than 10 years it has offered young service apprentice engineers the opportunity to study for the industry leading four-year Claas Agricultural Apprenticeship, which is based at SRUC Barony College, near Dumfries.

Last autumn, six new students commenced their training at Barony, where over the next three years their time will be split between blocks at college, where they will receive comprehensive technical training, and working for their sponsoring dealership gaining experience in the field.

During their final fourth year, they undertake additional advanced technical and industry training, and will also attend additional Claas product training delivered across the whole four years at the Claas Academy, based in Saxham.

For the five Barony students who completed their apprenticeships in 2019, as young service engineers they will be expected to take responsibility for jobs right from initial diagnosis, through to liaising with the customer and completing the job as professionally and efficiently as possible. However, they will always have the full support of being part of a large team and have a mentor within that team that they can turn to for advice and assistance, said Mr Tyrrell.

There will also be the opportunity to progress their career and as a result of annual training by Claas UK, they can achieve the higher level Master Mechanic and Master Technician roles, and ultimately progress on to more senior positions in management, should they wish to progress.

“You don’t have to look far within Claas UK to find those in senior sales, service and support roles, either at Saxham or within dealerships, who started their careers as an apprentice or graduate trainee with Claas or in a dealership,” added Mr Tyrrell, who, along with sales and marketing manager, Jeremy Wiggins, joined the company’s graduate management trainee programme from university.

For more information on career opportunities with CLAAS go to: https://www.claas.co.uk/company/jobs-careers-uk