Faab Embracing Apprenticeships.

At Faab we like to embrace the potential of young adults and we want you to do it too. How you might be saying? One word “Apprenticeship!”

So what exactly is an Apprenticeship?

An Apprenticeship is giving an individual the opportunity to learn new skills, gain experience, earn a salary and work towards a qualification. Apprenticeships can take someone anywhere between 1 → 4 years to complete depending on their level.

There are 3 levels of apprenticeship:

1. Intermediate – equivalent to 5 GCSE passes
2. Advanced – equivalent to 2 A Level passes
3. Higher – can lead to NVQ Level 4 and above, or a foundation degree.

What are the requirements of an Apprentice?

• The individual must be 16 or over
• They must live in England
• Mustn’t be in full-time Education

* Above requirements taken from www.gov.uk

But can Apprentices and Apprenticeships thrive within e-commerce?

We believe the answer to that is yes! Faab feels that there’s nothing better than giving someone the opportunity to thrive and succeed in an industry such as ours. We think that Apprentices are a great addition to a businesses workforce and bring many benefits. The question is “Are they right for me and my company?” Well lets look at the true benefits an Apprentice can bring…

• Apprentices can be trained and tailored to suit specific job roles within your organisation making them a flexible addition to your workforce.
• Hiring Apprentices can sometimes also be very cost effective as employers can often receive financial help with covering costs for training etc.
• Many businesses believe that hiring an apprentice will cause major issues in terms of disruption for training. This is untrue as the training is predominantly completed whilst on the job creating minimal disruption to the workforce. And research shows that 96% of businesses which have taken on an apprentice believe their company as a whole has benefited.
• You also have to look at the long term benefits for example training Apprentices from a young age means that when they are fully trained they will be able to replace your ageing workforce and provide your company with a skilled team in the future.
• Also with Youth comes fresh ideas, so apprentices could even bring innovation into your business.
• Apprentices are usually more loyal to your organisation since they’ve been trained from a younger age.

Now for some facts and figures to reinforce the positives of apprentices for businesses.

• Increased productivity – 76% of employers say they provide higher overall productivity.
• Reduced staff turnover – 80% of employers feel they reduce staff turnover.
• More motivated and satisfied workforce – 88% of employers believe apprenticeships lead to a more motivated and satisfied workforce.
• Increased competitiveness – 80% of businesses with an apprenticeship programme say it ‘makes them more competitive in our industry than we would be without it’.
• Reduced costs, improved productivity, less waste – 53% of businesses say they benefit from lower recruitment costs and 59% from lower overall training costs thanks to their apprenticeship programmes. They can also reduce your salary costs.
• Promote social responsibility – 81% of consumers favour using a company which employs apprentices, shows a commitment to the local community and develops the workforce of the future.
• Fill your skills gap – 83% of employers rely on their apprenticeships programme to provide the skilled workers that they need for the future.
• Progression planning – 57% report a high proportion of their apprentices going on to management positions within the company.
• Training apprentices is more cost effective than hiring skilled staff, leading to lower overall training and recruitment costs*

* Survey conducted by Populus on behalf of the Learning and Skills Council in February 2009 
** All the rest of the statistics are taken from research conducted in February 2008 by Populus on behalf of the LSC to launch the first National Apprenticeship Week

Obviously Apprenticeships also benefit the individual and not just the employer so lets have a look at what it means to them…

• As an employee you will be able to take a hands on approach to the industry you are wanting to work within allowing you to put your skills in to practice, gain experience and build on your confidence.
• An Apprenticeship can be a way to evaluate whether you want to work within that particular industry long term or it could open new doors to other careers you now wish to pursue.
• Think about it. Having industry experience is very important to an employer; so having experience plus a Qulification on your CV will set you apart from other aplicants in your next job search.
• Choosing an apprenticeship over say going to college or university means you can begin to earn a good salary whilst still learning and developing.
• There’s also lots of choice within apprenticeships so there’s most likely one to suit you.
• Thinking about it an Apprenticeship basically creates a fast route into a career with the potential of good future prospects.

With every benefit they’ll be a drawback for the employer so lets have a closer look…

• Risk! The apprentice may not complete the full NVQ qualification due to reasons such as they weren’t suitable for the position, they lacked enthusiasm etc. This obviously means the company has lossed out both financialy and in terms of productivity as the time spent training the employee hasn’t really paid off long term.
• As an Apprentice learns on the job there is potential for mistakes which could result in loss of productivity or even a financial loss for your company.
• Apprenticeships can sometimes require a lot of training therefore a company needs sufficient resources in terms of man power to teach them.

The employee will also have to make a few sacrifices when opting for an apprenticeship…

• Yes you’ll be earning a salary, however the minimum wage for apprentices is much lower than that of a graduate at just £2.73 an hour.
• There is a lot of apprenticeship schemes out there but in some cases you just might need a degree in order to pursue your chosen career.
• Because you are choosing a skill to master early in life, most likely before you’ve explored the range of all your possible skills, you may not pick the correct one for you.

Upon conclusion you can see that there are both positves and negatives of going the apprenticeship route to employing new staff. However at Faab we feel the overall benefit of an apprentice can be priceless, but you have to think long term and spend some time researching any potential candidate. The key is to get the right person for the job and invest in them. There’s no point employing an Apprentice if you aren’t willing to spend your time, energy or resources on them. But just think if you find the right individual it will reap benefits for the future, they are potentially your future management team…“So go on, give them a chance!”

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