Return to the profession – it is possible

The seminar “New welding opportunities” could be considered a highly professional event, if not for the second part of its name – “New opportunities for staff training”, as well as the presence at the seminar of the representative of the cashier’s Office for unemployment.

The name itself conducted a seminar company, Westweld Consult OÜ (www.westweld.eu), says that its specialty, not production activities and consultations. As it turned out, the word Consult in this case should be interpreted more broadly: Westweld is engaged in teaching this difficult working specialty, welding. This firm created the school WestWeld Koolituskeskus, in fact, a school for adults.

Of course, this is not taught in the school curriculum. Westweld Koolituskeskus specializes in professional development of welders, training them to work on the most modern equipment. Students of the school are active employees of enterprises, mainly Metalworking, where the use of the most modern equipment is required, and accordingly, the ability to work with it. The diploma is an international certificate.

On October 14, the westweld Consult production facility, which became a conference hall, brought together the heads of such enterprises, as well as representatives of companies supplying our market with the latest developments in the field of welding.
As it was possible to understand, welders work today not only with steel and alloys, but also with polymeric, composite materials, and such a seemingly prosaic matter as welding has become a high-tech process.

It could be judged by the equipment presented at the seminar. When you look at him the usual image of a “welded” man in a tarpaulin robe and a square “muzzle” with a black window, crumbles. Modern masks are rather similar to the helmets of Formula 1 pilots, and the purpose of devices and equipment is very difficult for an uninitiated person to understand.
Welders are demanded in labor market today, nevertheless, there are many people in this specialty who are looking for work in the Unemployment Insurance Fund. And many of them do not have enough qualifications for employment in modern conditions.

The employer, studying the questionnaire, sees that the person does not meet his requirements.
The head of Westweld Consult Sergey Boaga says that, in principle, the company is ready to prepare a welder and “from scratch”, but it is still preferable to work with a specialist who has a base. How to get out of the situation when the company needs welders, they are in the “queue” of the unemployed, but do not have the the necessary skills and certificates, Olga Efremova, a consultant for employers of the Unemployment Insurance Fund, said at the seminar.
She listed the benefits and preferences that can be obtained by an enterprise that sends employees to training. The figures show that in many cases it is advantageous for firms to hire an employee with basic knowledge and send him to training for advanced training and to obtain the necessary certificates in schools like WestWeld Koolituskeskus.

– This approach, – Efremova said, – can be beneficial for both employers and employees.
The seminar was attended by the former Director of Sillamäe vocational school Inna Nazarova. We asked her a question – is WestWeld Koolituskeskus a direct competitor to an educational institution? Indeed, in 2015/2016, 120 welders were trained and certified here, which far exceeds the graduation of the school.
– Rather, we complement each other – said Nazarova – our graduates have to improve skills too.
It is necessary to add that Sergey Boaga and his brother Andrey who is responsible in firm for practical training are related to the Sillamäe school: Andrey is a graduate of the SPU, and Sergey taught welding business there.
“People come to us both in the direction of firms,” said Sergey, “and independently, for their money.”

We do not recruit large groups, we focus on individual lessons.
We monitor the market, periodic changes in standards, and all this we bring to our students. And our certificates are valid almost all over the world. In Europe-exactly.

The seminar showed that Westweld Consult OÜ monitors the latest developments in the field of welding business. This is evidenced by the speech of the representative of one of the leaders in their industry, the company Abicor Binzel. For readers, it is important to understand that losing a job is not a total failure. Firms like WestWeld Koolituskeskus work also in other areas. And in the unemployment Fund there are programs that can help to return to the profession.