NissMAP apprentices tour the facility

THE next generation of young automotive professionals visited Nissan Australia’s Mulgrave headquarters last week to experience for themselves what an exciting career in the automotive industry could look like.

The visit served as an introduction to Nissan’s award-winning NissMAP (Nissan Mentored Apprenticeship Program), which launched in 2011 and has since seen some 600 apprentices complete an automotive technician course through the importer’s national service centre network – the fifth largest in the country.

In touring the facility, the apprentices were offered the opportunity to not only appreciate some of Nissan’s most iconic and ground-breaking vehicles, but to learn about the NissMAP program’s unique approach to mentored apprenticeships.

Nissan says the program has delivered “tangible benefits” in its 13 years, offering participants real-world benefits, including the opportunity to become fully trade qualified in as little as two years and eight months – a significant reduction from the standard four-year term.

Impressively, the retention rate of the NissMAP program is almost double that of the industry average (49 per cent), with 87 per cent of participants retained in the industry.

“The award-winning NissMAP program was started with a simple goal – to provide young women and men across Australia with the support, mentoring and skills they need to embark on an exciting career in the automotive industry,” said Nissan Australia national manager of dealer training Alisha Gray.

“In the years since launch, it has achieved that and so much more, reporting incredible qualification and staff retention rates, and creating a new generation of enthused and engaged automotive technicians.”

The NissMAP program operates in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia with an expansion into South Australia within the next 12 months.