Five things I've learned about apprenticeships
This time last year, Filigree was just starting our apprenticeship journey. I’d completed a round of interviews and excitedly made an offer. In March 2024, we welcomed Charlotte to our team as a Level 3 Multi Channel Marketer apprenticeship. Read Charlotte’s story here.
As National Apprenticeship Week rolls around, it’s been fascinating to reflect on what I have learned about apprenticeships and how the experience of supporting an apprentice has shaped Filigree.
As the owner of a SME, you hear mention of apprenticeships, but I think there’s a lot of small business owners who don’t fully understand or think its for them.
Here are five things I didn’t know about apprenticeships last year (but I am glad I do now).
It pays to think beyond the length of the apprenticeship. It may be advertised as 18 months – in our case, this is the time to reach ‘end point assessment’ – but I was clear from the start that I wanted to create a permanent role and match this with proper pay and a progression plan. So far, this is paying off. Taking on an apprenticeship is a commitment for an individual, so it is important to have a clear career path with fair pay.
Your friendly council team can demystify it all for you. For us, the apprenticeships team at Norfolk County Council has provided an outstanding service explaining the seemingly complicated levy process, securing match funding from a major local business and being so supportive through the process.
On-the-job training is not as daunting as it seems. It felt like an enormous task to plan and deliver in-house training courses, but once the basics have been covered and we found a rhythm with our learning provider, we’ve settled into shadowing, collaborative working and peer support which is proving a manageable way to learn the skills needed for the role. There are so many opportunities to work on projects and put the learning into practice. All our clients, partners and suppliers have been so supportive – I really consider it a team effort!
Apprenticeships are not just for new recruits. Anyone, at any level in their career can become an apprentice and there’s so many specialist learning opportunities. It really is a fantastic way to embed professional development in your organisation and open affordable learning opportunities to more established members of the team. It’s something for all of us to think about.
A degree, A-Levels and formal qualifications aren’t everything. So much of the value we bring to work, to our team and for our clients comes from those skills that aren’t always taught in a classroom – warmth, empathy and enthusiasm. Bringing our first apprenticeship on board has really underlined this point for us.
If your company is based in Norfolk, get in touch with the wonderful team at Apprenticeships Norfolk to start a conversation about apprenticeships.