AgilityEco and Greenworkx join forces to boost talent pool of Energy Advisors to meet growing demand
Leading energy efficiency experts AgilityEco and green skills talent startup, Greenworkx, have recently announced a partnership that will see them join forces to boost the number of trained Energy Advisors available to meet the growing demand from the industry as it looks to support consumers through spiralling energy costs. A pilot project between the two companies, launched in October, aims to attract and train 100 new people with the skills needed to enter the workforce as a Home Energy Advisor.
The combination of an ongoing fuel poverty crisis, the increased awareness of the climate crisis and the need to reduce the use of fossil fuels in the home, has seen more people look for ways to cut their energy use and make their homes more energy efficient. This in turn has resulted in soaring demand for trained Energy Advisors, who can provide the public with practical advice and information on everything from energy saving tips, signposting onward support services and funding for insulating their homes.
AgilityEco’s award-winning community programme ‘LEAP’ (Local Energy Advice Partnership) already works in partnership with a network of local organisations to deliver advice services through both home visits and phone consultations, and has successfully saved UK households millions on their energy bills to date. But low awareness of the role of an Energy Advisor, and a limited number of qualified candidates currently in the market, has left programmes such as LEAP struggling to meet growing demand.
This talent shortage reflects a wider challenge in the UK, where companies from construction to the energy sectors and beyond, are facing an enormous green skills shortage. With the Government predicting that 2 million green jobs will need to be filled by 2030 in order to meet net zero targets, this is the ‘green skills emergency’ that specialists Greenworkx are helping to tackle with their platform, looking to attract and train millions of new candidates for ‘green collar’ jobs of the future.
As part of the partnership with AgilityEco, Greenworkx will help to diversify the range of people considering a career as an Energy Advisor, by demystifying what the roles entail, what skills are needed, how well it pays and the work flexibility it offers. Suitable candidates will then be offered the chance to participate in a bespoke online training programme that will give them the knowledge they need to apply for and succeed in an Energy Advisor role. The courses are fully digital, also involving peer to peer learning and support. Most of the candidates will end up with a suite of qualifications including the National Energy Action Level 3 in Energy Awareness.
Those who go on to complete the programme will have the potential to be matched with live job opportunities in their local area through AgilityEco and its partners. It is hoped the pilot programme will provide a much-needed influx of new talent to the energy advice sector, enabling thousands more people to access essential energy saving advice.
Mat Ilic, co-founder and CEO of Greenworkx comments:
“We’re delighted to be partnering with AgilityEco on this project to help them ensure that there are enough skilled people available to fill these important roles which have a positive impact not just on the environment, but on the lives of those most vulnerable to fuel poverty. There are hundreds of roles currently available for Energy Advisors in the UK, and with starting wages of £28k or more, we wanted to make people from all backgrounds aware of what a great career option this could be for them.”
Caroline Joseph, Director of Community Schemes, AgilityEco added: “We are delighted to be starting our training academy journey with Greenworkx - the LEAP Home Energy Advisor Training Academy (HEAT) will aim to create 100 new qualified energy advisors in the next year. We have our first cohort of 8 trainee advisors undergoing training and we are confident that Greenworkx’s considerable expertise in this area will help us to attract and retain the best Energy Advisor candidates possible.”
