Apprenticeships set to be key for businesses going forward

Young talent within the workplace brings many advantages namely new and exciting ideas, and many companies already compete for candidates who come straight from University.

However, what if you could employ someone straight from school, offer them training to develop specific key skills, all whilst embedding them into your workplace culture to mould them into your ideal candidate? Currently, this is what many employers aim to achieve through offering apprenticeships to school leavers.

Not only are apprenticeships beneficial for employers, but young people also benefit as they are able to work whilst earning and gain real workplace experience which will be advantageous for their career progression. Nowadays, apprenticeships are more accessible than ever before and are also being offered in a wider range of sectors, making them increasingly more attractive than other further education routes such as University.

In a move to encourage apprenticeships, the UK Government introduced an apprenticeship levy in 2017 meaning that organisations who pay combined yearly salaries of more than £3 million must pay 0.5% of wage costs for training in the workplace. It was expected that this would create 3 million more apprenticeships in the UK by 2020. So far, this appears to be a success with many more apprenticeships available in the market and more applicants applying for these positions.

In the future, it is expected that many businesses will not only offer but depend on apprenticeships, to keep up with expanding essential key skills in the workplace. With the clear benefit of apprenticeships to both employer and employee, there has never been a better time to consider recruiting apprentices within your organisation!