Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

ApprenticeshipsEconomics, government & businessLearning & developmentSkills shortages

Winning young hearts

by Personnel Today 1 Sep 2004
by Personnel Today 1 Sep 2004

With the Government encouraging more employers to take on apprentices and a high-profile campaign from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), training professionals are well aware that there’s more to a successful apprenticeship programme than finding suitable candidates and getting them to sign the dotted line. Dealing with young, first-time workers is a great challenge for any organisation, as many readers have written to us to point out. We look at how organisations can win their hearts and minds, ensuring they complete the apprenticeship and that both they and their employers reap the benefits.

David Fell, Training Manager, ADT
Our apprenticeship programme does not have a formal end date because we don’t believe everyone learns at the same rate. We grade the apprentices twice a year and when they’ve reached the required standard, they have completed the apprenticeship and become an engineer. This means the faster learners are not held back and it doesn’t put pressure on the slower ones. As a result, the retention rate is very high.

Matthew Allton, ADT apprentice and BSIA apprentice of the year
I wanted to do something where I would learn a trade as well as get a qualification. Going to college [as part of the apprenticeship] is a good idea because you get to meet electricians from different companies. You learn the technical side at college and then put it into practice when you work alongside an engineer. The engineers and the trainers have given me lots of support. I’ve had the opportunity to do lots of different things – engineering, management, and even design.

Helen Nightingale, Senior training adviser,South Staffordshire Water
I’ve found having a reliable training provider is the key. We use the Engineering Federation in Birmingham, which has its own technology centre and gives us reports and provides feedback for our students. If the apprentices go to their NVQ providers and the tutors don’t turn up, they will get disillusioned and decide it isn’t what they want to do. If you’re honest and upfront with them, they know what they need to do for themselves and the company. You need to treat people with respect as well as reward them.

Keith Hatter, Chief executive, K2 Performance Systems
Employers would serve their apprentices well by ensuring three basic needs are met. The need for a sense of choice as to how they go about their work – you might need to point them in the right direction at first, but supporting their autonomy as soon as possible will motivate them well. Work on their sense of confidence. Point out the areas where they need to improve, but ensure this is balanced with pats on the back. Finally, make sure they feel supported at work. You need to be their coach as well as their boss.

Caroline Smith, Policy officer, learning and skills, TUC
If you want these youngsters to succeed you need to give them a lot of support early on. At 16, you don’t really know what you want to do. They can need a lot of hand-holding. We see our apprentices at least every two months. They’re seen every two weeks in college and the NVQ team will see them on an ad hoc basis once a month. There is also an e-mail chat facility, so that they can contact the team whenever they want to.

Ken Lewis OBE, Founder, Dutton Engineering, and chairman of the East Mentoring Forum
High-quality training and good wages and conditions are central to encouraging apprentices to stay on. Along with collective bargaining over these issues, union representatives are playing mentoring roles and helping young people adjust to working life. These factors help drive up completion rates and lift the status of apprenticeships. We don’t see enough employers offering apprenticeships to people from ethnic minorities and women. Additional measures may need to be put in place to help these young people stay on.

We want individuals with the right attitudes and a little bit of fire and ambition in their bellies. Our main goal is to make them feel like part of the team by getting them into the meetings and briefings. We are always anxious to let them choose their own way forward and have ownership of their own career trajectory with us – whether it be on the engineering side, or even in marketing or accounts.

Avatar
Personnel Today

previous post
Sunday’s no fun day for nation worried about work
next post
Witnesses begin testimony in Merrill Lynch sex discrimination case

You may also like

Pay all care workers a £10.50 hourly minimum...

30 Jun 2022

Give wellbeing a board seat: Prof Sir Cary...

30 Jun 2022

Staff shortages affecting business growth at three in...

29 Jun 2022

What has cyber security got to do with...

29 Jun 2022

Graduate salaries rise sharply as search for talent...

27 Jun 2022

Young people need more guidance over ‘green jobs’

24 Jun 2022

Three in 10 workers’ skill sets not being...

23 Jun 2022

Bias stopping STEM professionals returning after career break

23 Jun 2022

Inflation in May 2022 at 40-year high, as...

22 Jun 2022

Entry requirements prevent young accessing apprenticeships

20 Jun 2022
  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+