#ChooseCollege ➕ How vital is Scotland’s college sector to your business?
We’re excited to be taking part in this year’s #ChooseCollege campaign, running from Monday 14 July to Monday 22 August 2025.
Led by the CDN Marketing and Communications Network, this national campaign celebrates the vital role of Scotland’s colleges and encourages prospective students to explore the wide range of opportunities they offer. After the success of last year’s campaign, Scotland’s colleges are once again coming together with a shared voice to highlight the powerful impact of colleges on education, skills, communities, and the economy.
We asked some of the employers that work with our Business Engagement Team about the importance of local colleges to their businesses 👇
🗣️ Christine Turner is the Apprenticeship and Training Business Partner at Omexom UK. The company delivers engineering, construction, and maintenance solutions to electricity producers, grid operators, and regional authorities.
How vital is Scotland’s college sector to your business in developing a skilled workforce?
Scotland’s college sector is hugely important to us as we are rapidly growing and need the youth of the future through apprenticeships and HNC/HNDs. We are working towards the Governments projection of net zero by 2050 and to be able to achieve this we need to bring on through training a skilled workforce to meet these requirements.
Can you explain how college training or partnerships have directly benefited your business?
They have allowed us to take on more workforce in a specific sector.
In what ways does the college sector help your business grow or innovate?
Our ability to offer a wide range of apprenticeships has enabled the business to grow, allowing us to expand our workforce in ways that may not have been possible before.
Are there particular skills or training programmes provided by colleges that are essential for your industry?
Yes, Substation Fitter and Over Headlines personnel are essential to our business and our main opportunity for college students becoming employees.
How do you see colleges playing a role in addressing future skills gaps in your sector?
By growing the skills gap and introducing more courses around substation and overhead lines and training more assessors in those areas to cope with the number of apprentices that will be required in the future.
Why is continued investment in Scotland’s college sector important for employers like you?
We have a large workforce in Scotland and so it is important to invest in the Scotland’s college sector.
What advice would you give other businesses about engaging with their local college?
The first step is to reach out to your local college and clearly communicate your needs. Colleges are there to support businesses and help develop the talent of the future. If you don’t ask, you won’t know what’s possible - and by not engaging with them, you might miss out on valuable support across various areas of your business.
🗣️ Roddy Davie is the General Manager at Auto Services in Perth
How vital is Scotland’s college sector to your business in developing a skilled workforce?
It creates a grounding for new talent into the work stream and helps develop young people with the skills to enter a working environment.
Can you explain how college training or partnerships have directly benefited your business?
Our partnership with UHI Perth has proven to be invaluable and they help create talent and bring my business excellent apprentices and candidates for us to train and develop for the future.
In what ways does the college sector help your business grow or innovate?
UHI Perth consistently brings me new fresh exciting, motivated talent, which in turn brings an excellent age mix into the team and creates the new techs going forward.
Are there particular skills or training programmes provided by colleges that are essential for your industry?
UHI Perth offer my workplace basic training and then they develop them with a mix of work-related and college-related work to develop and bring these employees up to speed and fit into the team.
How do you see colleges playing a role in addressing future skills gaps in your sector?
UHI Perth/colleges play a vital role in the development of potential future employees and help to prepare them for the future – integral to the development of future workforce.
Why is continued investment in Scotland’s college sector important for employers like you?
This prepares my apprentices and employees, without it, we simply couldn’t take on apprentices or employees coming into the world of work. This is vital to protect and prepare our future employees for joining into the workplace
What advice would you give other businesses about engaging with their local college?
Just do it! Build a relationship with the college and work with them any way you can to help them to create a better trained and work ready workforce.
