Ethan Gaunt

Work experience led straight to a job for design technician Ethan

Valuable work experience gained on his Derby College Professional Construction course has led teenager Ethan Gaunt straight to his ideal job.
The 18-year-old form Alvaston is now employed full-time as a junior technician with Pride Park-based engineering design consultants Jackson Purdue Lever.
Ethan is one of several students in recent years to be taken on by the firm, which offers students work experience as part of its involvement with Derby College Employment and Skills Academy.
He completed the Level 3 extended diploma in Construction and the Built Environment at Derby College in summer 2018, gaining a triple distinction*.
Ethan’s mentor and Jackson Purdue Lever director, Stuart Lever, is pleased with Ethan’s progress.
He said: “I interviewed Ethan and was impressed with him right from our first meeting. He is very capable so we need to give him work that challenges him.
“We value our links with Derby College. We’re been working with the careers academy for five years and we’ve kept on everyone who has come to us for work experience. It’s an arrangement that works so well that we’re taking on another two students on work experience from Ethan’s course in the next few weeks.”

The course content was interesting, but I think one of the best things about Derby College is its links with industry. “Through the Academy I got the chance of 12 weeks’ work experience with Jackson Purdue Lever. It went well and in the second year of my diploma I spent one day a week with the firm.

The company took me on as a junior technician straight from college.

I was fortunate as I didn’t have to go through the usual process of applying for jobs and formal interviews as the directors had already known me for nearly two years.