A talented trainee from Port Glasgow has landed his dream job in construction, after approaching Action for Children at a job fair and impressing his bosses on a 13 week work placement.

Tyrone McIntyre, 17 attended a local job fair in Greenock while he was still in school to look at alternative career paths. He spoke with Action for Children, which is funded by Skills Development Scotland, and the organisation was able to place him on a project which led to work with housing and community regeneration specialist, Keepmoat.

Tyrone trained with Keepmoat subcontractor Advanced Construction Scotland (ACS) on a new build project in Greenock, where the firm is building 45 new homes for Oak Tree Housing Association – who funded his placement. Oak Tree Housing Association has cooperated with Action for Children to produce training and employment for young people in Inverclyde over a number of years and several projects.

Talking of his placement, Tyrone said: “I wasn’t particularly great at school and didn’t quite know what the plan was upon finishing school. My granddad was a scaffolder and my uncle is a labourer, so I’ve always had an interest in the construction industry and the option of practical learning was far more appealing.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my work placement and the best thing about it was definitely that you are treated like an adult. The people you are working with really want you to learn and go out of their way to support you – it’s a completely different dynamic to school or college.”

Tyrone’s hard graft has since paid off, as ACS has offered him full time employment.

Nichola Gray, assistant site manager for Keepmoat, said: “The work Tyrone has done for us in Greenock has been fantastic. He’s got an incredibly positive attitude and no task was ever too much for him – he was keen to learn and was a real asset to this project.

“We’re over the moon for him securing work with ACS and we look forward to working with him again in the near future.”

Tyrone added: “I can’t believe it’s only been a few months since I left school and was unsure about the future. Construction is absolutely the right route for me, and whether you are interested in the field or not – I’d highly recommend the trainee/work placement route, as it’s got me to where I wanted to be a lot quicker than I’d anticipated.”