New faces at booming automotive firm

Jake Richardson, Connor Sproates, Sam Wright, Aaron Parsley, Ryan Brain and Cory Erskine at ZF

Peterlee-based ZF, which produces camera safety equipment found in vehicles across the world, invests heavily in its talent programme and works in partnership with Sunderland College to recruit apprentices.

Over the past few months, ZF has brought in several new employees who will undertake learning and development alongside hands-on training with the company also looking to recruit two more apprentices – one in HR and one in logistics.

Ronan O’Driscoll has been appointed as the new finance apprentice while Michael Dobson has been recruited as a maintenance apprentice.

In addition, three apprentices have transferred to the Peterlee plant from the firm’s Sunderland factory.

They are Adam Hall from the maintenance department and Jake Richardson and Sam Wright from the engineering department.

HR Manager Lisa Hudson said: “We’re delighted to announce the appointment of a further five apprentices, all of whom will play a key role in our continued growth.

“We regard our apprentices as being vital members of our team, who each bring something different to their respective roles. We aim to support them during their learning and development to prove themselves and go on to secure permanent roles with us.

“Attracting young talent is equally as important as securing individuals with years of experience and we’re very pleased with how this latest tranche is settling into the business.”

ZF has also announced that five individuals have secured permanent roles after completing their apprenticeships. Connor Sproates, Aaron Parsley, Cory Erskine and Ryan Brian, have all finished engineering and maintenance apprenticeships, and Ellie Walton completed a HR apprenticeship.

Finance apprentice Meghan Heslop, who joined the business in September 2019, is now studying at Level 4 of the AAT qualification, after successfully completing Levels 2 and 3.

ZF Peterlee, which employs more than 1,000 people, is a worldwide leader in the production of camera safety technology, with millions of pounds of investment committed in the last few years to support the continued growth of the market.