28 February 2025
On Wednesday 12 February, during Apprenticeship Week, Merlin Entertainments visited Engineering Students at East Surrey College to talk about their various apprenticeship schemes available for College leavers.
Michael Jones, Head of the Engineering Academy, lead the presentation and enlightened students on the extensive array of apprenticeship opportunities for College Leavers. The brand currently has 105 learners on the programme across 22 attractions, including Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, The London Eye and Madame Tussauds.
Michael highlighted how the Academy is an important part of Merlin’s operations, helping them to stay ahead of rapid technological advancements and nurture a prosperous career and education for their workforce. Apprenticeships at Merlin are extensive, with 50 different standards, including Logic Controller Fault Finding, Hydraulic Fundamentals and Senior Engineering Management.
After the talk, we spoke to Michael who provided us with insight on how to stand out amongst the other candidates. He explained that soft skills were an important aspect of the process, “You’ve got to be a team player, a good communicator, have good problem solving and be motivated to deliver”
“You want to be looking for experience within engineering, and that’s not necessarily work experience, it’s what you do outside that can be applied to an engineering environment. We’ve had people talking about how they maintain their push bike, how they strip it apart and maintain all the individual components, it makes you stand out compared to someone who hasn’t”.
If you are interested in learning more about Merlin’s Engineering Academy, then you can register your interest in joining the 2025 cohort by clicking here.
