The 10-per-cent fee that small businesses must pay when they take on apprentices will be halvedAt Outsauce, we support apprenticeships and have had the pleasure of employing apprentices for the last four years. These apprenticeships have ranged across all areas of the business from Customer Services roles in our Operational areas to our back-office areas including IT.
As the Compliance and Resources Manager of Outsauce, I get the satisfaction of recruiting the individuals. Working with the individuals on these programmes provides me with a great amount of satisfaction as I get to watch their progression through the course.
In 2010, the Young Apprenticeship scheme ended and the new scheme was introduced which saw vast growth, opening the door to many new roles and opportunities. I would have loved this to be more readily available in so many sectors, with a vast amount of companies to provide such diversity when I was looking to gain knowledge and experience within my chosen role.
Whether you are coming straight out of education or have been working for many years, it is never easy to make a decision on what you want to do for the rest of your life. Then when you finally find the courage to change direction or try to progress further it is hard to hear the inevitable “you do not have experience for this role.”
Unfortunately, this will never change until an opportunity opens and you get a chance but choosing an apprenticeship has changed this for many individuals. Individuals I have worked alongside have been able to find their career paths, find opportunities to broaden their horizons and finally get the jobs they always knew they could do with the help of the apprenticeship programme.
As someone who did not go to University I was always worried that I wouldn’t have the qualifications for future roles, however, I always strived to complete vocational qualifications and increase my knowledge and understanding to help me progress with my future. As a result, I am passionate about the apprenticeship programmes and how they support people to get into the role they want, whilst allowing them to gain a qualification and experience.
However, even now as a Manager there is still so much knowledge and skills to learn that I am eager to continue to develop further and to help others with the tools to support their future careers and personal growth.
In the current climate, when having qualifications and experience for a new role is hard to accomplish these programmes are really supporting all age groups to progress within their chosen field. These opportunities should not be disregarded as a tool for inexperienced staff but instruments and investments in the best and most important tool businesses have… their members of staff.
Article By Nina Wingate
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