Budding automotive technicians are being given the chance to train for highly-skilled jobs at Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood plant.

This year, the luxury-car manufacturer will take on 15 people between the ages of 16 and 24 for a four-year period.

“We will be using assessment centres to select candidates covering numerical and analytical reasoning, manual dexterity, team working skills and structured interviews,” says Andrew Bell, Rolls-Royce communications manager.

From September the apprentices will work alongside skilled craftspeople in the paint, wood, leather, assembly or maintenance areas of the plant, with a view to completing NVQ level 3 training.

Rolls-Royce also runs industrial placements. It is open to people looking to develop their skills in automotive alongside their degree courses. This year 37 men and women were taken on placements lasting six and 12 months.