Across Europe, traineeships are often presented as a straightforward answer to complex skills shortages. Offer more placements, the assumption goes, and more people will enter the workforce. In practice, it rarely works that way.
We’ve learned that traineeships don’t fail because students lack motivation, or because companies aren’t willing to engage. They fail when we design the placement—but not the pathway that leads to it. If we want traineeships to genuinely support the energy transition, we need to stop treating them as standalone opportunities and start designing them as part of a wider system.
In NESSIE, we approach traineeships as journeys: from understanding real regional labour needs, to preparing learners and companies, to making participation feasible and meaningful. Along the way, four pillars consistently determine whether a traineeship succeeds or struggles—industrial relevance, academic continuity, practical feasibility, and personal experience.
Start with the work that actually exists
Successful traineeships don’t begin with a vacancy or a CV. They begin much earlier, by understanding the regional energy landscape.
In WP1, we built a detailed understanding of existing and planned regional energy projects across our lighthouse regions. Through feasibility studies, site visits, and close engagement with local installers, companies, and authorities, we grounded our work in what is already happening on the ground—and what is realistically coming next.
This step matters more than it may seem. When traineeships are disconnected from real projects, they struggle to deliver value. Students gain experience, but not the right experience. Companies host trainees, but without seeing how that investment supports their actual work. Over time, enthusiasm fades on both sides.
We’ve found that designing traineeships that work means starting with the work that needs to be done—and then deliberately working backwards.
Translate labour demand into learning pathways
Understanding regional labour needs is only the starting point. The next challenge is translating those needs into learning pathways that genuinely prepare people for practice.
Traditional education programmes are not designed to adapt quickly to changing regional demand, nor to prepare learners for specific project contexts on their own. That doesn’t make them ineffective—but it does mean they can’t carry the full burden alone.
In NESSIE, we treat this translation step as essential. We work with education providers to turn identified skills gaps into clear learning objectives and progression routes. The focus shifts from “what should students know?” to “what should they be able to do next?”
This is where traineeships stop being abstract opportunities and start becoming intentional steps along a clearly designed pathway.
Short Advanced Courses: bridging study and practice
Between classroom learning and on-the-job training, there is often a gap—and that gap can be challenging for both students and employers.
Short Advanced Courses (SACs) are our way of bridging that space. In NESSIE, we use SACs as targeted, time-bound learning experiences that prepare students—soon to become trainees—for the practical realities they will encounter in the field. These courses are not broad introductions or theoretical refreshers. They are focused, applied, and directly linked to the types of tasks and technologies trainees will work with during their placements.
For students, SACs build confidence and context. They arrive at traineeships with a clearer understanding of what they will encounter, how sites operate, and what is expected of them. For companies, SACs help ensure that trainees arrive with a baseline level of readiness—making mentorship more effective and reducing the pressure on busy teams.
Just as importantly, SACs align expectations. They create a shared starting point before a trainee ever sets foot on site.
Preparing companies to host (not just accept) trainees
One of the most persistent challenges we see in traineeships is the assumption that workplaces are automatically ready to host learners. In reality, good traineeships require good hosts.
Companies are often willing to participate, but without clear role definitions, time allocated for mentorship, or realistic task scopes, traineeships can become frustrating experiences. Trainees may feel underused or unsupported, while companies struggle to balance learning with operational demands.
In NESSIE, we treat industrial readiness as a core design pillar. Preparing companies to host trainees means working together to clarify expectations on both sides, recognise mentorship as a skill that requires time and support, and ensure trainees are given meaningful, achievable responsibilities.
A traineeship is only as strong as the environment it places someone into. Designing that environment is as important as preparing the trainee.
Remove the invisible barriers
Even the best-designed traineeships can fail if practical realities are overlooked. Housing, transport, scheduling, supervision capacity—these factors are rarely front and centre in traineeship design, yet they often determine whether participation is realistically possible. Working in island and coastal regions has made this especially visible for us, but the lesson applies far beyond those contexts.
In NESSIE, we treat practical feasibility as a design requirement, not an afterthought. A traineeship that cannot be lived in cannot succeed, no matter how strong the learning outcomes look on paper. Addressing these factors early is not just supportive—it prevents loss of investment, time, and motivation later on.
Make it a human experience
Traineeships are often someone’s first sustained encounter with the energy sector. Whether they choose to stay is shaped not only by the technical work itself, but by how supported, welcomed, and connected they feel along the way.
Social experience, peer learning, and a sense of belonging matter. Feeling part of a community—rather than a temporary add-on—can make the difference between a traineeship that ends quietly and one that becomes the start of a career.
This personal dimension is often the least formalised part of traineeship design, yet it has a powerful influence on long-term outcomes. In NESSIE, we treat it as a pillar in its own right.
From traineeship to vocation
A successful traineeship does not need to guarantee a job with the host company. What it should guarantee is clarity: about the work, the sector, and the pathways available next.
When industrial relevance, academic continuity, practical feasibility, and personal experience come together, traineeships stop being isolated experiences. They become gateways into the regional energy workforce—benefiting individuals, companies, and regions alike.
If there is one lesson we continue to learn through NESSIE, it is this: traineeships that work are designed, not improvised.
They require coordination across education providers, companies, and regions. They require attention to practical realities and human experience. And above all, they require a shift in mindset—from offering placements to building pathways.
If we want traineeships to truly support the energy transition, we need to stop asking whether individuals are ready to participate—and start asking whether the system is ready to host them.
That is where traineeships begin to work.