PT Awards profile: Barclays triumph in youth employment

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As the Personnel Today Awards 2014 open for entries, Jo Faragher begins a weekly profile of last year's winners. As the winner of not only the newest category of the Personnel Today Awards last year, but also the coveted overall award for its youth employment scheme, Barclays had good reason to celebrate. The judges of the inaugural award for Youth Employment Initiative praised the way the bank had brought together its own need to source new talent with a programme that also addressed high levels of youth unemployment. To do this, Barclays developed an extensive apprenticeship programme that focused on young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs). So far, the programme has recruited more than 1,000 young people into the bank and it plans to take on another 1,000 apprentices by the first quarter of 2015. “We’ve changed the way we recruit entry-level talent into Barclays,” says Shaun Meekins, head of operations for early careers at the bank. “At one time, someone would have needed a GCSE grade A to C and customer service experience to come and work with us. Now all they need to begin their career here is the motivation to succeed.” Before joining the bank, around three-quarters of apprentices were claiming benefits and 23% had been unemployed for more than a year. It is hoped that young people joining Barclays will want to map out their career there. Initial apprenticeships take them to a Level 2 qualification after 12 months, then they will be able to work toward a foundation degree (Level 4) and beyond. “They can grow with Barclays, even if they come into the business with little or no qualifications or experience,” says Meekins. The programme’s benefits are not confined to Barclays internally. By building a pool of high-potential young people, the bank has been able to share talent with small and medium-sized employers and its own clients nationally: a significant number of external apprentices have s