WOW: We are celebrating 10 years of trading this month!
Amanda started the company training apprentices’ in hairdressing in September 2011. We are so proud of our journey, how far we have travelled and where we are today.
Our fabulous team have worked tirelessly to ensure our passion, knowledge and attention to detail have given us the reputation of the best provider of hairdressing and barbering apprentices’ in Kirklees. Our recent Ofsted report reflects this: https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/33/2556365
We opened our doors with 5 apprentices, all working towards the Level 2 apprenticeship framework.
The Link Training is now working with 80 local employers and has a real insight into the issues, achievements, barriers and challenges our employers are facing, especially during a global pandemic.
Huge thank you to Charlotte Price, salon owner from RED HAIR, https://redholmfirth.co.uk/ who gave Amanda the opportunity to use her salon on Mondays to deliver training to the first 5 apprentices.
Our reputation very quickly grew and so did we.
We needed more space.
The next step was to work with the fabulous guys from TAG: Tom Scott and Gareth Wall, now known as Westgate Barbers. https://westgatebarbers.co.uk/ who very kindly let us use their salon to deliver our training to 10 apprentices’.
Growing again, we then took out a lease on the premises in Lindley, now known as The Link Hairdressing. A big thankyou to Dannie Mitton, who worked alongside us in her salon and shared the lease with us.
We think it is very important that we understand the challenges employers face. The best way to do this is to work alongside a commercial, up to date salon. We now work alongside The Link Studio.
The Link Training are now based in Huddersfield Town Centre, we have a ground floor salon and two further floors including a large training salon, a student canteen and break room, classrooms and offices. Now we employ 15 members of staff to deliver our training, all our skills tutors are working in the industry and most of them have their own salons, so they really understand barriers and challenges in the industry.
We have diversified and grown into other sectors including Leadership and Management, Coaching and Business Administration. We are currently working with some very large employers including Airedale NHS Trust and Thornton and Ross based in Huddersfield.
What’s next for us?
The Link Training is passionate about training and education. We really want to support our young people at work. To do this, we have a robust Traineeship programme, which is tailored to support individual needs, getting students ready for the world of work.
We want to support the employers we are working with to ensure they have profitable, viable businesses; to do this, we offer a bespoke skill gap analysis and business information with direction to advice and guidance. We are on hand to answer all questions regarding training, apprenticeships and business support.
Over the next 10 years, we would love to keep the reputation we have gained and are now recognised for within all sectors; to do this, we will continue to work to the best of our ability, keep with industry trends and challenges, train our staff and remain passionate about what we are doing.
