“Apprenticeships should be valued as equal to a university education” Callum Cruden, Director, R&I Cruden Ltd and IoD Scotland Environment, Climate & Sustainability Ambassador

At 17 the idea of student debt and having no profession didn’t sit well with me. Being paid to learn on the job seemed like a much better plan and, since I was keen to stay in the Highlands, I applied for an apprenticeship with Scottish Water. I only have good things to say about the experience. No two days were the same, I learned a lot and I travelled all over Scotland.

School bias against apprenticeships – in favour of university – existed then and continues today. Apprenticeships should be valued as equal to a university education. For sparsely populated areas like ours, apprenticeships also keep talent local, which is important for retaining key skills.

When I was ready to move from Scottish Water, my dad and brother asked me to join their business. They were getting a lot of requests to do renewables work and needed my electrical engineering expertise. It was an easy decision for me. While I had enjoyed my time with Scottish Water, I was ready to be in a more enterprising environment and I could see the opportunity for business growth through sustainable energy.

I joined the family business in 2013 as one of a team of five, we emerged from Covid with a workforce of 25 and now we employ 65 people. I am delighted to say that a quarter of our staff are either current apprentices or graduates. The apprentice model was good for me and has been for our business historically, and we know how it works. As a business we are trying hard to shift perspectives around apprenticeships so that young people see it as a viable alternative to further education. We train people in a variety of careers, and it is an excellent way to build the skilled workforce we need to meet our the business demands and continue to grow.

Scotland is leading the UK in renewables and 10-15 years ago there were a lot of business incentives available around sustainable energy. We rode the unpredictable ‘renewables wave’ and it helped drive growth. We devised a management structure to drive growth and create opportunities for talent coming through the business. Now we offer services in mechanical, electrical and renewable energy and have recently moved towards longer-term infrastructure projects within the energy transition sector which bring more stability to the business.

While apprenticeships provide valuable hands-on experience, they don’t fully cover the skills needed to run a business. To build those, I joined the IoD about a year ago and to further my own management and leadership skills, I have enrolled in the IoD Certificate in Company Direction for next year.

I am proud to be an IoD Scotland Environment, Climate & Sustainability Ambassador and was delighted to see IoD members coming from all over the Highlands and Islands to attend an event I organised about sustainably within business. There is no quick fix to achieving net zero, but there are some easy wins. There are free carbon assessment tools available online which are a good starting point. From this you can establish a starting point and then develop a manageable and achievable plan. Start with simple changes like switching to LED lighting, adding solar panels to your roof and encouraging employee behaviour changes around energy and waste, then tackle the more complex challenges.