by Bob Hayward | Feb 28, 2020 | Employment & skills, Our News, RTITB, Training courses
The International Women’s Day 2020 campaign theme is #EachforEqual. An equal world is an enabled world.
At Key Performance, we are choosing to challenge stereotypes and broaden perceptions. We seek to be a pathway to better equal employment opportunities.
Anyone over 16 can drive a forklift truck. As the career employment opportunities are plentiful and earnings above average for warehouse and logistic roles. At £21,000 to £23,000 forklift driving can be a great pathway into better employment.
In the last two years, only five of our 80 trainees were ladies. These 80 delegates became qualified forklift operators through Key Performance Training and the vast majority went straight into paid work. This number, five from 80, is obviously not proportional to the population of people working in the logistics and warehousing industry. And yet there is no reason for forklift operating to be the preserve of our male colleagues. There is no reason that anyone, male or female, must be big, strong or bulky to operate a forklift. The fact is that Forklift Trucks are just as suitable for men and women to drive as are cars.
Job expansion in the manufacturing, warehousing and logistics sector looks promising for the economy. What does this news mean for the women out of work? Male workers have dominated the industrial workforce and have naturally gravitated towards these types of jobs, while women can easily take advantage of these job opportunities.
A career as a Forklift driver is an underrated profession and often overlooked by women. Many do not realise there is a high demand for Forklift operators. Operators drive Forklifts and use them carry heavy loads and stack pallets onto warehouse shelving or trucks. One can earn a respectable salary, opportunities for promotion. and enjoy flexible shifts as a Forklift operator. In order to secure employment, a training course and certification is mandatory but easy to obtain. A novice course takes only five days and you could be working the very next week…
So, to challenge that false assumption and in support of International Women’s Day Key Performance Training are putting on a LADIES ONLY forklift taster session. Friday 6th March at Unit 1 Headlands Trading Estate, Swindon, SN2 7JQ.
The free two-hour session has been designed to help people decide if they could operate a forklift truck and whether they could earn more as a forklift driver. We invite all ladies to come and try out some simple moves of both a Reach and Counterbalance Truck as well as to meet an Employment Agency to discuss the job opportunities locally right now.
For more information contact Bob Hayward or David Gearon at Key Performance Training #IWD2020 #EachforEquality
by Bob Hayward | Aug 30, 2019 | Employment & skills, Our News
Our Background
Key Performance Training (KPT) opened in February 2018 with a mission to be “A Pathway to Employment” initially using Forklift Truck Operator training. The idea is simple, either to enable someone who is not working to qualify with a much-needed skill and get “A Job” or enable someone on minimum wage as an unskilled worker to get a “Better Job” or help someone change “Career” KPT operates from a purpose-built high forklift training arena with two classrooms. The only such training arena in Swindon. Having established itself initially with forklift trucks KPT went on to run HGV Driver classroom training and now wishes to extend further into certificated training for the workplace; for instance, Manual Handling Equipment Training, First Aid Training and Health & Safety Training.
Business Development Executive Apprentice Job Description
The company is seeking to add a talented college-leaver as an apprentice to their sales team, to work closely with and learn from two serial entrepreneurs. The aim is to develop your potential so you can, once fully trained, lead the end-to-end sales interaction with prospects and customers as well as internally within KPT and its associated businesses. Provided you meet the standards you will achieve an NVQ Level 4 Sales Certification with the Association of Professional Sales (APS); a highly sort after qualifications in the sales industry Remuneration will be a basic of £8,500pa plus commission, during the 18-month apprenticeship. With the sales commission and bonuses paid for achieving pre-agreed targets, the On Target Earnings (OTE) should be £20,000 to £25,000 in your first year.
Ideal Person Profile – Does this describe you?
The ideal person will have plenty of drive and energy along with a strong desire to win and to lead. They want to come across as enthusiastic, dynamic, assured and opinionated as well as being firm in their convictions. They are quick to talk and act. They enjoy being at the heart of things, making decisions and organising people. They are likely to be able to influence others with a combination of a more powerful personality than most along with an ability to put forward convincing arguments in a verbally fluent way. Professional. Polished. Disciplined. Responsible. Self-critical. Formal. Logical. They will have high standards and be self-directed. They accept there is a right way to do things. Charming. Able to influence others and persuade others. They will have some natural commercial instincts, a nose for identifying commercial opportunities along with the collaborative mindset and the people skills develop ‘win-win’ partnerships. Naturally able to concentrate and perseveres with detail. Able to work toward objectives while remaining flexible. Someone who uses logic and objectivity in processing information Quick to make decisions. Does not worry much. Thick-skinned and down-to-earth.
Main Responsibilities
- Assisting with marketing activities, including organising special promotions, displays, and events to generate leads. Helping with Social Media, Email-campaigns, Mailshots, and leaflet drops
- Helping identify new prospects and learning to follow up leads generated by the marketing to land new clients
- Accompanying one of the experienced team members to joint sales visits to both introduce the company and its services as well as to gain their agreement to run training programmes. After training and some months of experience, you will do much of this yourself with the MD in support.
- Learn how to handle and resolve any customer complaints and feedback
- Learn how to analyse sales figures and trends, forecasting future sales to facilitate planning
- Maintaining awareness of market trends in the industry, understanding forthcoming customer initiatives, and monitoring competitors
Main Competencies Required
Apprentices without Level 2 English and maths will need to achieve this level prior to taking the end-point assessment.
- Ability to network to reach the right decision-makers and to network through existing clients to gain new business
- Strong two-way communication skills. Can ask questions as well as present ideas fluently. Can persuade, influence and build the need for change within a prospect’s mind
- Excellent written communication skills
- Able to sell value over price and can differentiate from the competition
- Be resolute, bold and stubborn when required, focusing on results, tackling any problems or conflicts which get in the way, dealing with people professionally and effectively despite their feelings or importance
- Be alert to changing situations, gathering intelligence and insights to gain competitive advantage, showing flexibility in approach, adaptability in difficult circumstances and continuously strive to achieve a result
- Enjoy challenging situations and have the flexibility to work in an unstructured environment where there is freedom to act and the authority to make decisions
- Solve customer problems and implement appropriate remedial measures
- Actively participate in the internal company culture which dedicated to continuous improvement, challenging the status quo and developing best practice
- Can prioritise and work smart by being well-prepared and doing the required preparation and practice
To Apply: Please email your CV to bob.hayward@keyperformancetraining.co.uk
by Bob Hayward | May 22, 2019 | Employment & skills, Our News, RTITB, Training courses
At Key Performance Training, we are of course completely biased in our opinion, that a training course with us here will most certainly improve anyone’s life chances and ability to move forward. We consider that learning to be a Forklift Operator gets you onto the pathway to employment. It can be instrumental in getting to a job to start with. Any job for a new novice forklift truck driver is worth taking because it provides you with invaluable experience. Once you have six months or one year under your belt you can look for a better job because you know have a track record as a Forklift Driver. Once established in that better job you can start to build a career with further training and promotions. Any Job – Better Job – A Career; this ABC is the say of satisfying the need to improve self-worth which can only be got through a sense of achievement and personal growth.
Achievement and personal growth in turn can be pushed forward in leaps and bounds by choosing the right training course specifically tailored to you, it doesn’t matter what stage of your life you are at and it doesn’t really matter if your life’s ambition is to be a forklift truck driver or even to go on with further training to eventually become the trainer yourself, the fact is that training is truly the only way to improve your lot in life.
Training and more importantly the right training package will also give you personal confidence and the satisfaction of knowing that you have got not only the qualification, the actual bit of paper that says you have done it, but you have also applied yourself, made a decision and stuck with it until you obtained the end result.
Success measured how we do here at Key Performance Training is that it’s not so much where you end up more what you do every day all those little baby steps that add up to one giant leap for the improvement of your life.
Key Performance Training as specialists in this area have the skill set and techniques available to truly draw out of you the best Forklift Driver out of you that you can imagine. With Key Performance Training, even though there at tough tests to pass; both theory and practical – with Key Performance Training you never fail. Why? Because if you do not pass the first time we will continue to train you for free until you do pass.
Training and development is of course a fundamental part of any profession, not only does it help you improve your performance but it will allow you to perform better within your organisation thus helping your employer meet its own goals.
Even when you take you tri-annual refresher programmes, Key Performance Training will give you new skills making you as an individual more efficient at your job, in fact, it will make you truly more capable of handling situations that you would not necessarily have been confident in prior to taking one of our training courses.
Developing new skills within your own repertoire will also make you a much more valuable proposition to any new potential employer, putting you in the driving seat, quite literally, turning that first “Any Job” into a Better Job and then on into a Career.
by Bob Hayward | Jan 11, 2019 | Employment & skills, Industry news, Training courses
Almost 1,000 workers in the UK are seriously injured every year in forklift accidents, according to the Forklift Truck Association. From load falls to tip-overs to pedestrian casualties, winter weather can make operating a forklift truck highly dangerous for even the most experienced drivers, not to mention extremely challenging. Even with modern technology and advanced machinery, snowy and icy conditions pose risks for all forklift truck operators.
Here at Key Performance Training, we are a leading provider of training in the forklift industry, so we know how important it is to be fully equipped with the right knowledge and skills. Read our guide on improving forklift truck safety in cold weather, so you and your employees can drive safely at work in the winter months.
Wear the right clothing
Employees operating forklifts in the winter months are likely to be working in very cold or even freezing temperatures. Too much exposure to the cold can cause health problems as serious as hypothermia and frostbite, which is why drivers need to wear the right clothing during their workday.
Thermal workwear including body warmers, fleece jackets, insulated hats and warm gloves are vital for employees operating in winter. A high-quality pair of work boots is also essential to keep your feet warm and dry while minimising the chance of slipping over on icy paths. Don’t forget to put on a high-visibility vest as well, to ensure you can be seen in all conditions. Most of the clothing required to improve forklift safety in winter can be found at Zoro.
Install tyre chains.
All forklift drivers will know that having the right tyres is essential. As well as choosing strong, thick tyres which are durable and long-lasting, it is also recommended to have tyres with a deep, robust tread area. That’s not just the case for cold weather, though: well-maintained tyres are vital for forklift trucks, no matter what the weather conditions are.
But to make tyres even safer in winter, think about installing tyre chains to your forklift truck. These are designed to provide better traction in snow, which reduces the chances of drivers losing control on icy surfaces. Snow Chains offer a variety of tyre chains in different sizes, which can be easily fitted to most forklift trucks and then removed when the weather’s warmer.
Consistent maintenance is key
It is especially important to maintain a forklift truck in winter to avoid any accidents. Checks such as examining fluid levels, warning lights and the battery are some things operators should do every day. There are also obvious issues which should be looked for, including leaks and bodywork problems.
But there are further tests drivers should be carrying out in winter to make sure their forklift is completely safe to operate. For example, you need to take extra care with trucks fuelled by liquid propane, as their coolant system can freeze in cold weather. It’s worth taking additional safety measures and purchasing a winter forklift service.
Provide full forklift training
If your employees have not been fully trained on operating a forklift in winter, they should not be driving it. Driving a car is simply not the same as handling a forklift truck and there are many more skills you need to have. Plus, when it comes to winter, supplementary knowledge is required to make sure you are completely prepared for harsh weather conditions.
Key Performance Training provides expert training on operating forklifts, including refresher training for those who need a reminder of how to work safely in winter. You can find out more about our forklift training courses here.
Staying safe in winter can be difficult for even the most experienced forklift truck drivers. But if you wear the right clothing, install additional protective gear, maintain your truck correctly and have it comprehensively serviced, you can greatly reduce the risk of danger. It’s also recommended to take forklift truck training courses, so you know the proper procedures for operating in cold weather.
by Bob Hayward | Oct 4, 2018 | Employment & skills, Our News, RTITB, Training courses
A career as a trained fork lift truck driver can be one of the most fulfilling careers in the construction or distribution industry, key performance training specialise in training for the fork lift truck drivers. You can be sure that training for a career as a qualified forklift truck driver will assure you of a career that will span a lifetime. Almost everything in every home or business premises was once on a forklift truck. Even the simple pencil, was in a box, along with a few others, which were all on a pallet and that pallet was moved more than once by a forklift truck.
Almost everybody who runs a successful company will also run training for their employees the ability for their workers to advance themselves not only will this give the company more valuable resource is in the form of better able staff will also promote a greater feeling of well-being in the employee which will in turn enable to live a better life and so training in effect becomes the catalyst for happier workers a better and more effective workforce and much higher productivity within the company.
Within the forklift driving industry historically it has been viewed that individuals will have less of a leaning towards academia and this could have contributed towards their decision to seek employment within this industry in the first place, maybe school and learning wasn’t for them, this in turn has over the years lead to a belief that those operatives working within this industry would struggle with training courses, however nothing could be further from the truth.
More and more our industry is being seen as a professional career path and therefore training within the industry has to offer enough scope to allow workers to feel that there is possibility of progression, this in turn will benefit the industry by helping to retain valuable experienced forklift truck drivers and who knows, in time they may go on to become the next generation of trainers themselves, certainly there can be no replacement for true knowledge and experience in any industry with this one being no different.
There are so many opportunities arising within our industry with warehousing constantly on the increase, the construction, retail industry and many more are all requiring the skill of professional forklift truck drivers, therefore there will constantly be a need for Centres of excellence in training to put on high-quality up skilling opportunities for forklift truck drivers. As such annual refreshers may become the norm rather than the current practise of only refreshing once every three years.
by Bob Hayward | Jul 25, 2018 | Employment & skills, RTITB, Training courses
At Key Performance Training we of course know that training is most definitely the key ingredient in making life for individuals more successful and pleasurable, investing your time and of course your money in training is actually to invest in your or your employees life. Your future and of course your family’s future. A Reach Driver typically earns more than a Picker and Packer. LGV Drivers earn more than many office workers.
Training at work was mostly seen as some kind of either reward or punishment in the past but now things are changing today and switched on businesses understand that training their staff and workforce is an absolute vital function, there are of course good reasons for this.
First of all it is expected that today’s employees don’t want to work where they are not offered development and whether for personal or professional reasons people don’t want to be in a business where they are not kept kept up-to-date fully trained and given the opportunity to develop themselves into their full potential.
Secondly the speed of change in all of our industries workplaces, that includes technology, products and manufacturing, new skills are required constantly. Driver CPC training is a legal requirement to be constantly refreshed. The highway code changes. UK laws that affect driving change. Just because you did Tacho Training five years ago does not mean you know the current rules. Counterbalance and Reach Forklift licences need refreshing every three years because things change, technology changes and best practice develops and improves.
Training enables people to keep up-to-date with the market, it enables them to stay competitive, it enables them to keep step with their own organisation’s plans for the future and be a valuable cog in a well oiled machine.
Thirdly businesses now understand, more than ever, that their workforce is their most valuable asset and making the most of their workforce is what training is all about. That is also what Key Performance Training is all about as a company; training skills that are essential in the modern business organisation. We are committed to developing quality training and thereby enhancing the talent available in a workforce in order to meet ever increasing skills gap in the modern workplace. Often before Peak (September – December for many UK Companies) creating a more flexible workforce by training extra people in key skills like Forklift Driving can significantly improve OTIF (On Time In Full) scores. At the least refresher for Forklift Drivers and CPC Sessions for HGV Drivers can ensure that your current team are up to date and legally allowed to operate.
Study after study has shown that there is a direct link between training a workforce and organisational performance, a report from the National Economic Office showed that high-performance companies spent nearly 10 days training each individual every year compared to just two training days for what turned out to be low performance companies, we at Key Performance Training want to turn around this trend and bring all companies up to speed with modern skills training.
Another study published by the Policy Studies Institute found that individual employees were worth an additional 6% in pay for each one month of training that they took part in.
A certain digital printer and photocopier organisation, Xerox, is a perfect example of these training truths they spend on each member of staff in their workforce least £1,600 every year and their multi billion pound turnover worldwide shows exactly why they do this. It is no accident that those companies that invest in training their workforce are those companies that are market leaders in whatever their industry happens to be.
A truly switched on company will track peoples performance in their workplace in all sorts of different ways, targets, standards, competence.
Setting someone to target to reach and then simply measuring whether they reach it or not is of course one of the simplest ways to monitor performance we at Key Performance Training ensure that we have possession of all of the facts on every individual that we provide training for.
Having standards allows us to measure different peoples performances against preset levels for standards such as an average or high and low level and again Key Performance Training can help with setting the standards within your industry. Measuring competence becomes much easier and falls into place once the previous two have been met assessing an individual’s complete competence is made so much easier once they have undergone a full assessment.
We live in times of rapid change in both business and work are now driven by constantly changing dynamic external factors. In some instances global competition, in other instances technology, and even evolving markets, create a demand for quality goods and services that require changes in skills and attitudes. In the past training employees often only took place now and again. This cannot any longer be the case in an ever changing and evolving workplace only those that stay well ahead of the curve will ultimately survive, both as individuals and businesses. Key Performance Training has got your back and will supply you with the training to up-skill your workforce and keep you competitive in this ever-changing climate.
If you want to learn more about Forklift Driver Training and LGV Driver CPC Training – contact us here
